希腊向IMF偿还7.5亿欧元贷款

Greece’s finance ministry ordered a 750m payment to the International Monetary Fund, ending days of uncertainty over whether Athens would use the instalment as a bargaining chip in talks with its creditors.

希腊财政部下令向国际货币基金组织(IMF)偿还7.5亿欧元贷款，结束了过去几天围绕雅典方面是否会利用这笔还款作为与债权人谈判筹码的不确定性。

Ministry officials said they had sent a payment order to the government’s national accounts office to ensure it would arrive in the IMF’s coffers by today, when the loan repayment falls due.

财政部官员称，他们已经向希腊政府的国民经济核算办公室下达支付令，以确保这笔还款不晚于今天（贷款偿还到期的时间）到达IMF的手中。

Some members of the governing hard-left Syriza party had pushed ministers to withhold the payment until eurozone finance ministers meeting in Brussels agreed to endorse progress made by bailout negotiators in recent days.

执政党激进左翼联盟(Syriza)的一些成员一直向各部长施压，要求其暂不偿还贷款，直到在布鲁塞尔召开会议的欧元区各财长同意支持最近几天纾困计划谈判代表取得的进展。

Athens has lobbied furiously for such a statement, which officials believe would allow the European Central Bank to lift the ceiling on its issuance of short-term debt. That would provide more breathing room for the cash-strapped state.

雅典方面一直大力游说欧元区各财长发布一份希腊官员认为将允许欧洲央行(ECB)提高希腊发行短期债务上限的声明。这将使这个陷入资金短缺的国家获得更多喘息之机。

But according to officials involved in the Brussels meeting, Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek finance minister, confirmed Athens would make the payment during the hour-long session.

但是，据参与布鲁塞尔会谈的官员表示，希腊财长亚尼斯•瓦鲁法基斯(Yanis Varoufakis)在时长1小时的会议中确认，雅典方面将偿还贷款。

Ministers had only a perfunctory debate over the Greek programme, and issued a statement that was far more lukewarm than Athens had hoped — welcoming the improved atmosphere in the talks but warning “more time and effort are needed to bridge the gaps”.

欧元区各财长只是就希腊计划进行了敷衍讨论，并发表了比雅典所希望的要冷淡得多的声明——对谈判中改进的氛围表示欢迎，但警告称“弥合鸿沟需要更多的时间和努力”。

Such language is not expected to give the ECB the leeway it would need to lift its restrictions on Athens’ ability to sell treasury bills, which are almost exclusively purchased by Greek banks.

这种措辞预计不会给欧洲央行留有提高希腊发行短期国债上限的余地。这些国债几乎都卖给了希腊的银行。