“Good cop, bad cop” by institutional creditors continued on Thursday vis-a-vis the Greek issue, with the IMF calling back its negotiators from Brussels talks with the embattled Greek government’s representatives.

A spokesman later said the international Fund remained engaged in negotiations. Nevertheless, the development was seen as highly negative, more-or-less quashing hopes for a cash-for-reforms deal this week.

The Washington-based institution mentioned that “major differences remain” in the talks, and that “we are well away from an agreement.”

“The IMF never leaves the table,” spokesman Gerry Rice said at a press briefing in Washington, adding: “But the ball is very much in Greece’s court right now.”

Greece’s radical leftist government must repay owes 1.6 bln euros ($1.8 billion) to the IMF this month. It already missed a 300-million-euro payment last week, instead bundling the installment with other payments this month.

Rice, in fact, pointed to the larger portion of Greek GDP (10%) devoted to pensions in Greece, as opposed to European countries, with the EU average is 2.5% of GDP to fund the social security system. He also cited the fact that Greek pensioners retire, on average, six years earlier than their German peers, with the former receiving only a slighter small monthly payment.