IMF chief Lagarde: Little sympathy for Greece

The Associated Press

AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis
A European Union flag flies outside the Stock Exchange in Athens on Friday, May 25, 2012. Uncertainty over Greece's future in the eurozone has hammered markets ahead of June 17 general elections in the crisis-hit country. The Greek share index touched new 22-year lows, dipping below 500 points.

LONDON (AP) — International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde says she has more sympathy for poor African children than Greeks suffering under the country's economic problems and austerity measures.

Making clear that the IMF has no plans to relent on its austerity requirements for the country, Lagarde said she was aware that many Greeks were struggling to access services like healthcare because of the country's economic crisis, but believed people in other countries deserved more sympathy.

"I think more of the little kids from a school in a little village in Niger who get teaching two hours a day, sharing one chair for three of them, and who are very keen to get an education," she said in an interview with the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper published Saturday. "I have them in my mind all the time. Because I think they need even more help than the people in Athens."

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May 26, 2012

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1. Basil Zafiriou wrote on May 26, 2012 1:03 PM	Mme Marie Antoinette Lagarde would have more credibility had she given up her business-class travel and five-star accommodation to help the children of Niger. But however crass her comments, they reflect the “understanding” Greece can expect in any attempts to renegotiate the latest loan agreement with the Troika. Tsipras should take note.

2. Argyrakis VAN wrote on May 26, 2012 3:52 PM	I disagree with you, Basil. It's Europe who should take note! Tsipras is not going off message.....

3. Philip Vorgias wrote on May 26, 2012 5:52 PM	Lagarde is your typical elitest, living off IMF largesse very high on the hog. But her point is well taken, Greece can't count on help from the outside for very long. They need to get their economy straightened out and very quickly. As for Tsipras, he hasn't got a clue what it takes to make an economy work. He's just one more spoiled Greek kid who cut his teeth going to university protests and in-general flipping-off capitalism and the west. If he's the next Greek PM he's going to get a very rude awakening on Day 1. I'm very dissapointed that the Greek people can't see past his BS, but they've demonstrated over the years they're not to astute politically.

4. Basil Zafiriou wrote on May 26, 2012 5:54 PM	If Tsipras does not get the message, then I hope Greek voters will and slap this reckless upstart down. Europe can manage without Greece. Greece outside Europe will be reduced to a Balkan backwater.What sane national leader would gamble with such odds?

5. Philip Vorgias wrote on May 26, 2012 6:07 PM	The Greek people are upset and angry-I understand that. But voting for a party who will put Greece in an even worse dilemna just to send a message they're fed up is pointless. It's cutting off your nose to spite your face. And the ironic thing is, the people who be hurt the worst by a Greek Eurozone exit are those on the bottom of the income scale-yet they are the biggest supporters of Syriza. Apparently uneducated folks are the easiest to dupe with the Great Lie-and always have been.

6. Niko Seretis wrote on May 27, 2012 12:37 PM	The uneducated folks are easy to dupe but so are the educated, especially when they've been taught to hate capitalism and businessmen who create jobs, and blaming all their problems on others conspiring against them for whatever idiotic reason that was concocted in the local coffee shop. If Greece loses Europe, its not only their wealth that will begin to shrink but also their borders!

7. Philip Vorgias wrote on May 27, 2012 12:46 PM	Great points, Niko.
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Friday, May 24, 2013 Last Update: 2:44 PM ET