HATED in Athens and brushed off by the Europeans, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is approaching the next round of negotiations with Greece in a delicate position.

    The global crisis bank is anxious to craft a compromise, but also under pressure to recover the billions it has lent to the country.

    In a sign of its caution, the IMF waited nearly 24 hours to react to Greece’s referendum Sunday — in which the people strongly rejected another reform-heavy bailout plan from the EU creditors.

    In addition, the fund will not send a representative to Tuesday’s meeting of the Eurogroup, the zone’s finance ministers, to discuss their next steps in the Greece crisis.

    “The IMF has taken note of yesterday’s referendum held in Greece. We are monitoring the situation closely and stand ready to assist Greece if requested to do so,” the Fund’s managing director Christine Lagarde said Monday.

    “If requested” is the issue. It is not clear the Europeans still want the IMF by their sides at the table to negotiate a new deal with the nearly bankrupt Greek Government.

    The two bailout programs crafted by the IMF, the European Commission and European Central Bank came with tough reforms and austerity policies that forced the government to slash spending.

    One unpredicted result is that, despite all the bailout funding, the Greek economy has contracted 25 percent over five years.

    Last month, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the IMF had “criminal responsibility” for Greece’s debt crisis.

    Last Thursday, the IMF released its study of Greece’s economy that predicted zero growth again this year, and recommended that, to stabilize the country through 2018, the Europeans would need to put another 36 billion euros (US$40 billion) into the rescue operation.(SD-Agencies)