BRUSSELS, June 15 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Christine Lagarde changed tone on Greek bailout program in Luxembourg on Thursday, announcing her intention to convict the Fund to be on board.
"I would like to announce my intention to propose to the IMF's Executive Board the approval in principle (AIP) of a new IMF Stand-By Arrangement for Greece," Lagarde told a press conference following this day's Eurogroup meeting.
"We have recently seen significant progress by the Greek government on policy reforms...we have also seen progress on debt relief," Lagarde said.
The IMF had held on its decision to join the rescue package for Athens as it regarded the country's debt as unsustainable, but European Union(EU) member states, including Germany, reportedly insisted the Fund's participation.
Lagarde said she "strongly" believed that use of the AIP procedure would enable the IMF to leverage both reform and debt relief and thus give confidence to both creditor and investors.
AIP was a procedure which the Fund relied on in an IMF-supported program. In Greece's case, the release of resources under the IMF arrangement would be "conditional," according to a statement released by the IMF.
To gain the Fund's support, Greece's European creditors had to provide commitments for debt relief sufficient to secure debt sustainability, the statement noted.
