Global politics

As the office of the International Monetary Fund in Greece prepares to close, its first chief, Bob Traa, shares his thoughts with Kathimerini about the Fund's contribution to the Greek bailout and reform process, saying that more and bolder interventions were required, and that the necessary sacrifices should have been better communicated to the people.

Greece is considering repaying more IMF loans ahead of time next year to offload expensive debt and wants to convince its official lenders to lower its post-bailout fiscal targets, Finance Minister Christos Staikouras told Reuters.

As long expected, Greece will pay off early its high-interest loans from the IMF.

The date that has been set is 25 November and the amount is 2.8bn euros.

Μάνδρα : Συγκλονίζουν οι μαρτυρίες των κατοίκων, δύο χρόνια μετά

The move was approved by the Board of the ESM and the Governing Board of the IMF.

The government emphatically rejected on Friday the estimates of the International Monetary Fund on Greek growth and debt sustainability, despite the slight improvement in some of the IMF projections regarding the short-term outlook for the local economy included in the Article 4 report.

The government emphatically rejected on Friday the estimates of the International Monetary Fund on Greek growth and debt sustainability, despite the slight improvement in some of the IMF projections regarding the short-term outlook for the local economy included in the Article 4 report.

Although Turkey's vulnerabilities remain high, they can be solved domestically if the right policies are put in place, Donal McGettigan, the IMF's mission chief to Turkey has said, suggesting the country could overcome its economic challenges without IMF help.

Ambassador Christian Strohal, who is leading the mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe - the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) for observing the presidential elections in Romania, stated for AGERPRES that the electoral process is always a national one, the line his team follows being "alignment to international rules".

Cuba said on Nov. 6 the country had attracted $1.7 billion worth of foreign investment over the past year despite a tighter U.S. trade embargo and worsening cash crunch, although it did not reach its goal of $2 billion to $2.5 billion annually.

The International Monetary Fund remains unchanged in its views regarding the need for Greece to slash pensions, abolish pensioner handouts and reduce the tax-free threshold, and insists that the national debt is unsustainable in the long term, according to the Fund's latest report on Greece.

Athens is reportedly wary of Ankara's attempt to incorporate the migrant and refugee issue into the framework of confidence-building measures (CBMs) between the two countries.