IMF warms to idea of entering program even without financing it

The International Monetary Fund has not ruled out its participation in the Greek bailout program, even if that means not funding it, at least until the issue of the Greek debt has been resolved.

That was a proposal which according to the minutes of Monday's Eurogroup was tabled by the group's president, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, and adopted by the head of the IMF's European program, Poul Thomsen. Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos disagreed, saying it would lead to a political crisis in Greece.

"This is an interesting proposal," Thomsen responded to the Dutch finance minister's idea, adding that he would bring it up at the Fund's Executive Board meeting. The proposal, which had obviously been discussed previously behind the scenes, has not been rejected and is a possible scenario ahead of the next Eurogroup meeting on June 15.

This possibility was reiterated on...