the Washington Group

Besides some small steps of progress by Berlin, the meeting of the Washington Group and the session of the Euro Working Group ended on Thursday in Paris without any agreements on measures to ease Greece's debt, heightening the possibility that the International Monetary Fund will opt out of funding the Greek program.

Discussions continue on policies that could support the participation of the International Monetary Fund in the Greek program and the arrangement of the national debt, IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said in Washington on Thursday, but stressed that "time is running very short" for a solution.

Confidence in the Greek economy's recovery appears to be wearing thin again these days, as a meeting on Thursday of the Washington Group failed to reach an agreement on the Greek debt measures, bond yields remained high, Folli Follie's slump accelerated afresh and bank stocks took another tumble, leading the Athens Exchange (ATHEX) benchmark to a five-and-a-half-month low.

Not for the first time in recent years, Greece's fate is being decided outside of its borders. Representatives of the country's lenders, in the formation known as the Washington Group, met at the sidelines of the G7 summit in Bari, Italy, to discuss debt relief. The next milestone in this crucial discussion will be at the May 22 Eurogroup in Brussels.