LONDON — Mounting fears of a Greek debt default sent the country’s borrowing costs surging Thursday and prompted one prominent U.K. bookmaker to stop taking bets on the possibility of Greece leaving the euro.
The jitters were triggered by a report in the Financial Times that the Greek government recently made an “informal approach” to the International Monetary Fund to have bailout repayments delayed.
Unease also was stoked by evidence that the Greek government is shuffling around resources to cover costs and by pessimistic comments over the prospect of a deal between Athens and its European creditors.
Perhaps the most dramatic sign that Greece’s crisis is coming to a head was the Financial Times report that the IMF persuaded Athens not to make a formal request to delay repayments to the Washington D.C.-based institution next month. Greece is due to pay the IMF around 1 billion euro in two installments.
For investors, the report, which cited unnamed officials on both sides, was unsettling as it signaled that the Greek government is still a long way from convincing its European creditors about an economic reform plan that is needed to unlock the remaining funds in the country’s bailout. Since 2010, Greece has relied on a 240 billion-euro bailout from its euro partners and the IMF.
In Washington, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde rejected the possibility that the IMF would grant Greece a delay in making the payments.
