Missed Greek repayments will not be classed as default, ratings agency says

If Greece were to miss a payment to either the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or European Central Bank (ECB), ratings agencies would not class it as a default in conventional terms.

The stance, according to an S&P source cited by Reuters, may ease some concerns as officials from Athens meet with international lenders to formulate a cash-for-reform deal.

Athens is quickly running out of time to pay back around €1bn to the IMF this month and nearly €7bn over July and August.

However, given that the IMF and ECB are not seen as standard creditors, Greece's credit rating may simply be pushed further into 'junk' territory if it misses a payment - i.e. it would not be seen as a default.

"If Greece were, for whatever reason, not to make a payment to the IMF or ECB that would not constitute a default under our criteria as it is 'official' sector debt," according to Frank Gill, who rates Greece for S&P.

Three of the top four ratings agencies - S&P, Fitch and DBRS - all reportedly hold this view.

This could potentially mean that the ECB's emerging liquidity assistance (ELA) facility will continue - providing cash through the Greek central bank to the country's lenders - even if Greece doesn't meet its commitments.

Nevertheless, Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras reportedly said he was confident of a deal being made by Sunday 3 May. Finance ministers would then sign off on the deal at the 11 May Eurogroup meeting, he said.