The director of the IMF’s European sector, Paul Thomsen warned that the Greek elections will delay the scheduled review for the 3rd Greek rescue plan, thus affecting the release of nearly 800mln Euros to Greece, as part of the bailout plan agreed between Greece and its creditors. Paul Thomsen briefed the members of the Fund’s board on the Greek program, and expressed that view that the September 20 snap elections could possibly postpone the first review by the ESM of the progress of the implementation of the agreed reforms and prior actions. This could affect the disbursement of the largest portion of a scheduled 1bln Euro tranche to the cash-strapped country. Furthermore, he estimated that this delay would also put off talks on the restructuring of the huge Greek debt. It should be noted that the majority of the 1bln Euros Greece had forthcoming in October was earmarked to paying off arrears to the private sector, while the remaining money would be used to pay off a 456mln Euro bond to the ECB.