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IMF eyes March 15 meeting on new Greece loan

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"The Executive Board meeting is tentatively scheduled for March 15th," Rice told reporters.

"That is of course... pending completion of prior actions by the Greek authorities, and pending the full establishment of financing assurances including agreement on the PSI arrangement."

That was a reference to the "private-sector involvement" in the balance Thursday, in which at least 75 percent of the country's private creditors need to commit to a deal to write down 107 billion euros ($142 billion) of Greek debt.

"We have an interest obviously in the debt exchange being successful. That will require a high participation rate," Rice said.

"It's for the authorities and their legal advisers to determine how high a participation rate can be achieved, and it's a matter of policy. We don't micromanage that process."

Creditors have a deadline of 2200 GMT to decide whether to support the deal. Earlier Thursday the lead negotiator for private-sector creditors said he was optimistic the threshold would be reached.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2012