Greece makes IMF payment but reverses reforms

  • 9 years ago
Greece’s left-wing Syriza government has paid 200 million euros back to the IMF but has also reversed a number of reforms demanded by its international creditors.

They include the rehiring of 13,000 civil servants, and scraps their annual reviews and promotion-on-merit schemes.

Municipal police forces will be revived and several thousand school caretakers will return to work.

Finance Minister Yannis Varoufakis may be unpopular in the eurogroup for insisting on getting a better deal for Greece, but his cleaning staff will love him. Almost 600 women cleaners sacked by the finance ministry as a cost-cutting measure get their jobs back next month after protesting in front of the ministry for most of the last year.

Eurogroup meetings come and go yet there’s no sign a deal is in sight on Greece’s debt, as the repayment deadlines keep on coming.

“On May 12 Greece must pay a further 750 million euros to the IMF. But as cash-strapped Athens is quickly running out of money, the Greek