On Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund announced that it had lowered its standards for sustainability of debt so it could bail out Greece. The group also said its projections for the economy in Greece might have been too optimistic.
The IMF along with two other international lenders stepped in during 2010 to keep the common currency eurozone country from defaulting on debt and leaving the bloc. The IMF pledged nearly $39 billion to the Athens government out of a package that totaled $143 billion.
Some board members in the IMF as well as others criticized the group of handing over so much to Greece compared to the size of the economy in the country, accusing the IMF of being swayed by members from the European community.
The IMF, in a report looking back at the monetary bailout, said for the first time it had lowered its bar for Athens, which could again reignite the concerns about the impartiality of the lender.
The monetary group said its support of Athens back in 2010 had been necessary to stave off the problems the country had and not allow them to spill out into the other countries in the common currency zone as well as the global economy.
After the program for the Greece bailout was approved, IMF and the other lenders in the bailout, the European Central Bank and the European Commission, required that Greece immediately slash some debt and implement reforms.
The economy in Greece is still hurting and is expected to contract for the sixth straight year during 2013.
