Wolfgang Schaeuble

Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos is expected to meet with his German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble at 3.30 p.m. before a meeting of eurozone finance ministers - also known as the Eurogroup - at 4 p.m. in Brussels on Thursday.

In an apparent bid to put a stop to speculation about the International Monetary Fund withdrawing conclusively from Greece's rescue program, the head of the Fund, Christine Lagarde, told German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble that the IMF planned to continue its participation.

The managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reassured German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble this week that the IMF plans to remain constructively engaged in talks about aid for Greece, a spokesman for Schaeuble said on Friday.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble turned up the heat on the Greek government Thursday, warning in an interview that if Athens and its creditors conclude the second review of the country's bailout without the participation of the International Monetary Fund then it will be highly unlikely that the German parliament will approve another program to replace the current one.

Germany expects the International Monetary Fund to participate in Greece's bailout program, a finance ministry spokeswoman said on Wednesday, rejecting a newspaper report that Berlin was preparing for a deal without the global lender.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is preparing for a continuation of aid for Greece without the involvement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Germany's Bild newspaper reported on Wednesday.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Monday that if the International Monetary Fund is not part of the Greek bailout then it would become obsolete, essentially dousing government hopes that the current program could continue without the Washington-based organization.

In comments to the Wall Street Journal published on Monday, just a few days after suggesting in an interview with German media that a potential withdrawal of the International Monetary Fund could necessitate a renegotiation of Greece's bailout, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble advised against such a prospect.

The Greek government could barely contain its excitement on Friday, when it reacted with considerable speed to comments by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who floated the possibility of the country's bailout continuing without the International Monetary Fund.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble's suggestion in comments to a German newspaper that the potential withdrawal of the International Monetary Fund could necessitate a renegotiation of Greece's bailout spurred speculation on Friday both here and abroad.