Greece says wants to make debt payments but needs aid urgently

ATHENS | By Renee Maltezou

A Greek national flag flutters next to a statue of ancient Greek goddess Athena, in Athens May 21, 2015.

Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis

Greece intends to make good on its debt obligations but needs aid urgently to be able to do so, the government said on Monday, after several senior officials insisted Athens had no money to pay a loan installment falling due next week. Shut out of bond markets and with bailout aid locked, Greece is running out of cash to pay its bills. It must repay four loans totaling 1.6 billion euros to the International Monetary Fund next month, starting with a 300 million euro payment on June 5 that is seen as the next crunch point for state coffers.
Athens has the money to make monthly wage and pension payments this week, government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis told a news conference. But he was less direct when asked about the June 5 payment, reiterating the government's official stance
that it has the responsibility to pay all its obligations.
"Based on the liquidity problems that we have, there is an imperative need for us and the euro zone to have a deal as soon as possible," Sakellaridis said. "To the degree to which we are able to pay our obligations, we will pay our obligations. It's the government's responsibility to be in a position to pay all of these obligations."
A growing list of senior members of the government -- the interior minister among them -- have openly said Athens does not have the means to pay the IMF, and would prioritize paying civil servants and pensioners instead.
"We haven't got the money. We won't pay. It's that simple," Deputy Foreign Minister Nikos Chountis, who holds the European affairs portfolio, told Greek TV on Monday.
Greek officials have frequently threatened to default in recent weeks, arguing the country does not have cash, which euro zone officials have dismissed as a negotiating tactic to raise pressure on creditors to disburse aid.
Adding pressure on the government, prominent opposition lawmaker Dora Bakoyianni said the country risked facing capital controls to stem deposit outflows if it did not reach a deal for aid with the government this week.
Sakellaridis dismissed such "doomsday scenarios", saying there was "just no chance" of imposing capital controls. He also dismissed reports that the government would try to pay all its June obligations in one lump sum to the IMF.
He voiced optimism about a deal by early June but acknowledged that agreement on value-added tax hikes, pension and labor reform and lower primary surplus targets had yet to be found in negotiations with EU and IMF lenders.
Not accepting cuts to wages and pensions has been one of the government's so-called red lines in over four months of negotiations since taking power in January. Such cuts are a sensitive issue in a country where unemployment has soared and incomes have fallen during the six-year economic crisis.
Sakellaridis denied reports that the government was considering an extension to its bailout program that expires in June or that the idea had been proposed to the government.