Christine Lagarde, the director of the International Monetary Fund, said Greece’s creditors were moving closer to easing the burden of Greece’s debt.
"I have some hope, because as late as a couple of hours ago, I understand that there were some more positive noises towards that principle of debt restructuring," she told CNN International in an interview on Wednesday.
As the Agence France-Presse reports: “The comments came after the IMF made clear on Tuesday that it could not participate in a third bailout plan for Greece unless its debt is restructured to drastically reduce the medium-term financial burden on the country.”
"What we have said to all of them is that no matter what form it takes ... one way has to be found in order to release the burden and allow that country to demonstrate that it can be back on a sustainable path," she said.
In a study of Greece’s financial situation presented to European Union leaders on the weekend and released publicly on Tuesday, the IMF warned that the country's debt was "unsustainable". According to the report leaked to Reuters Greece would need far more debt relief to keep it in the eurozone than European creditors have been willing to consider.
The fund said there are several options for bringing Greece’s finances under control, these include dramatically extending the terms of the loans (with a 30-year grace period), offering deeply discounted interest rates and writing down some of the current value of the debt via a 'haircut' - something Greece's European creditors have resisted.
Lagarde indicated on CNN that lengthening the payment period was the likely choice, saying she understood direct payments or a haircut are "not on the cards ... from the political point of view."