In response I told Wieser that unless we received a sign from the creditors
that they were serious about a compromise on the reform agenda and a
sensible fiscal policy made possible by meaningful debt restructuring, we
would not reach 30 April without a default to the IMF. ‘Independently of our
preferences and political will,’ I said, ‘our liquidity will run out well before
then.’

He replied that we could last much longer by plundering the reserves of
non-governmental but publicly owned institutions such as pension funds,
universities, utility companies and local authorities.

‘And why would we want to do that?’ I asked. If the creditors showed no
interest in negotiating in good faith, why should we continue to extract yet
more flesh from the scrawny body of our society in order to service a debt to
the IMF that even it considered to be ultimately unpayable?