Greece says it needs deal with creditors by June 18

PanARMENIAN.Net - Greece on Friday, June 12, said it needed to clinch a deal with its EU-IMF creditors by June 18 to avert a default on its debt, as pressure mounts on Athens to give in to tough reform demands, AFP reports.

One of Greece's key creditors, the IMF, pulled its team out of negotiations on Thursday because of major differences, dampening earlier optimism from the Europeans that an agreement could be close.

But Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem warned that a deal could only be done if the IMF remained on board.

Underlining the growing frustration with Athens, a new poll showed a majority of Germans now want Greece out of the eurozone.

Greece and its creditors, which also includes the European Union and the European Central Bank, have been locked in negotiations for five months in a bid to unlock 7.2 billion euros in rescue funds.

But the creditors are demanding economic reforms, some of which the Greek government -- which was elected on an anti-austerity promise -- have refused to sign up to.

Time is now running out as the country needs to find 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) to repay to the IMF by the end of the month, when its bailout program also runs out, potentially leaving it exposed to defaulting on its debt.

A deal "will come about by June 18 or never", Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said in an interview with Mega channel.

Kammenos -- whose populist Independent Greeks party is the junior government coalition partner and is not involved in the talks -- said Friday Greece would not meet its repayment to the IMF if the talks founder.

"If a solution is not found by the end of the month, we will not pay the IMF," he said.

The IMF had pulled its team out of talks in Brussels on Thursday, with its spokesman Gerry Rice saying: "There are still major differences between us in most key areas."

"There has been no progress in narrowing these differences recently. Thus we are well away from an agreement," he said, adding that the agency nevertheless "remains engaged".

In The Hague, Dijsselbloem told reporters that it was "unimaginable" to do a deal with Greece without the IMF's involvement.