GREEK Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said late Sunday that Greece “intends to meet all obligations to all its creditors, ad infinitum,” seeking to quell default fears ahead of a big loan payment Athens owes the International Monetary Fund (IMF) later this week.

    Following a meeting with the head of the IMF, Varoufakis told reporters the government plans to “reform Greece deeply” and would seek to improve the “efficacy of negotiations” with its creditors.

    Greece has not received bailout funds since August last year and has resorted to measures such as borrowing from state entities to tide it over. It offered a new package of reforms last week in the hope of unlocking funds, but has yet to win agreement on the proposals with its EU and IMF lenders.

    Most urgently, Athens is on the hook for a roughly 450-million-euro (US$585 million) loan repayment to the IMF due this Thursday.

    The interior minister suggested last week the government would prioritize wages and pensions over the IMF payment, although the government later denied that was its stance.

    IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a statement after meeting with Varoufakis that she welcomed his confirmation that the loan payment due would be made on schedule.

    “I welcomed confirmation by the minister that payment owing to the IMF would be forthcoming April 9,” Lagarde said.

    She said due diligence efforts in Athens and talks with teams in Brussels over the terms of Greece’s bailout would “resume promptly on Monday.”

    The eurozone country is fast running out of cash, but the bailout extended by the IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank has been frozen until the leftist-led government reaches agreement on a package of reforms.

    After a first set of planned measures failed to impress lenders, Athens offered a more detailed package Wednesday.

    (SD-Agencies)