June 30, Greece failed to repay its loan to the International Monetary Fund. With its failure to make the roughly 1.6 billion euro payment, Greece became the first developed country to fall into arrears on payments to the fund. The last country to do so was Zimbabwe in 2001.
After Greece made a last-ditch effort to extend its bailout, eurozone finance ministers decided in a teleconference that there was no way they could reach a deal before the deadline.
"It would be crazy to extend the program," said Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbleom, who heads the eurozone finance ministers' body known as the Eurogroup. "So that cannot happen and will not happen."
The missed loan payment is the largest in the IMF's history. IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said Greece can now only receive further IMF funding once the arrears are cleared.
And while the fund's board is considering last-minute repayment extension, which has no guarantee of taking place, a crowdfunding campaign launched from Britain aims at helping Greece.
Started by a 29-year-old British citizen Thom Feeney, the campaign was launched June 28. Feeney, shared the news via his Twitter account.
Greece's total debt pile stands at more than €220bn, but €1.6bn is needed to cover an IMF debt bill that is due today.
To raise the neccessary funds, just 3EUR contribution would do says Feeney on the campaign's page:
"€1.6bn is what the Greeks need. It might seem like a lot but it's only just over €3 from each European. That's about the same as half a pint in London. Or everyone in the EU just having a Feta and Olive salad for lunch."
The campaign managed to raise 587,255EUR so far.