IMF: Pension cuts necessary to secure fiscal space for relief measures

The International Monetary Fund has underlined the need for planned pension cuts to be carried out while conceding that the negotiation is between Greece and its European partners as the Fund did not participate in the country's last bailout program.

In a briefing to reporters in Washington, IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said that a planned round of further cuts to pensions, which are scheduled to come into effect on January 1 but which the government insists can be avoided, were agreed a long time ago, as was the the reduction of the tax-free threshold for incomes, due to be enforced in 2020.

Proceeding with the agreed measures would free the fiscal space for Greek authorities to be able to offer tax relief and social welfare measures, Rice said.

However, he stressed that the issue was one for Greek and European officials to settle.

"The Fund no longer has a...