Greece raids IMF’s emergency fund to pay off . . . the IMF

Greece has narrowly avoided bankruptcy and expulsion from the eurozone, but to pay the International Monetary Fund the €750 million it owed this week, Athens has had to empty an emergency cash reserve provided by the IMF itself.

The Greek central bank took €650 million from its “special drawing rights” account held at the fund, a move thought to be unprecedented in 46 years.

“It was either that or seeing Greece default and joining Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe as the only countries currently in arrears with the fund,” a bank official told The Times. “The downside, now, is that there’s no money left for another emergency situation.”

The financial sleight of hand is a sign of how close Greece is to bankruptcy as it