According to a senior IMF economist who wasn’t identified, Greece will likely face a “hard default” well before March 2012. It could happen during 2011, and perhaps after the current round of negotiations. This acknowledgement from someone very close to the matter in a body that is heavily involved in the bailout, is quite worrying. The current talks are around the first bailout, agreed more than a year ago. Greece definitely missed its targets. The EU /IMF delegation suspended its visit to Greece after discovering that the deficit will be higher. They are expecting fresh steps to be taken by the Greek government. ... (full story)