By Nektaria Stamouli and Viktoria Dendrinou
ATHENS--Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Friday a report by
the International Monetary Fund laying out Greece's worsening
economic situation vindicates his country's demand for debt relief
and its choice to reject its creditors' bailout proposals so
far.
In his third televised address to his nation in the past week,
Mr. Tsipras called again on Greeks to vote "no" in a referendum on
Sunday on creditors' demands. Opinion polls suggest the referendum
is too close to call, with "yes" and "no" running neck-and-neck but
momentum possibly swinging away from the government.
Earlier this week, polls showed a lead for the "no" camp. But
the continued closure of Greece's banks, first ordered on Monday,
seems to have swayed public opinion, with many Greeks worrying such
a vote could deepen the country's financial paralysis and deal a
devastating blow to its already depressed economy.
The IMF warned in a detailed review of Greece's debt the day
before that the country would need "comprehensive" debt relief and
more than EUR60 billion ($66.6 billion) in new aid to return to
financial health.
Mr. Tsipras has sought to reassure Greeks they don't have to
fear the consequences of voting against creditors' demands for
painful economic overhauls, which his government rejected last week
in talks with the eurozone and IMF in Brussels.
"The IMF report justifies our choice not to accept a deal that
bypasses the major issue of debt," Mr. Tsipras said in a televised
address. European governments that supplied the bulk of Greece's
bailout program, which expired on Tuesday, have so far refused to
offer Greece significant debt relief.
The "yes" and "no" camps were planning separate rallies for
Friday evening.
Greece's Council of State, the country's highest administrative
court, ruled that Sunday's referendum procedure is legal and could
go ahead as planned, a court official said.
The court decided on the legality of the referendum after two
citizens argued that it breaches Greece's constitution.
A survey by polling institute Alco published Friday by the
ProtoThema website found 41.7% of respondents planned to vote "yes"
in Sunday's referendum, while 41.1% planned to vote "no." The
survey questioned 1,400 people between Wednesday and Friday.
The finding is well within the margin of error, which Alco put
at 3.1 percentage points, indicating that Greeks are roughly
equally split on Sunday's question.
Another poll published Friday and commissioned by Bloomberg News
also showed a virtual tie, with 43% of responders planning to vote
"no" while 42.5% backed "yes." The survey, conducted by the
University of Macedonia Research Institute of Applied Social and
Economic Studies, asked of 1,042 people and had a
3-percentage-point margin of error.
A third survey on Friday by Public Issue for the Avgi newspaper,
affiliated with the ruling leftwing Syriza party, found that 42.5%
of the 1,053 respondents said they would vote "yes" and 43% backed
"no."
Mr. Tsipras reiterated his claim that a "no" victory in the
referendum would mean a "continuation of the negotiations" with
creditors, and a deal "with better terms."
That assertion clashes with warnings from Europe, where policy
makers have said a "no" vote would severely harm the chances for a
deal with Greece and could increase the prospect of its exit from
the eurozone and financial collapse.
Officials from Germany and other creditors have said any new
bailout program would require tougher measures than those Greeks
are now being called upon to reject, because Greece's closed banks
and capital controls are degrading its economic outlook.
"If we want to negotiate a third program, it will be much
tougher than the second program, inevitably... that's independent
of whether we are getting a 'no' or 'yes' on Sunday evening," said
Belgian Finance Minister Johan Van Overtveldt.
In Athens, Berlin is widely seen as the main driver of Greece's
creditors' tough line. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble,
whose stern face appears in Greece on posters for the '"no"
campaign, told the German newspaper Bild that he would expect
difficult negotiations because Greece's situation has "worsened
dramatically."
Mr. Schäuble stressed that any negotiations would take place "on
a completely new basis and under more difficult economic
circumstances."
Mr. Schäuble will in the coming weeks claim back EUR532 million
from aid earmarked for Greece's second bailout package, a German
finance ministry spokesman said Friday. The funds have been
unclaimed since the program ended Tuesday night.
Those funds represented the profits Berlin made last year on the
holdings of Greek bonds at the German central bank, which Berlin
had pledged to provide to Greece.
Berlin had also been due to transfer EUR412 million in earned
interest for 2015 on July 1 to Greece, but it stopped the transfer
after the Greek government walked out of the bailout talks last
weekend.
Meanwhile, easing some of the pressure on Greece, eurozone
governments decided Friday not to ask Greece for an immediate
repayment of rescue loans from the currency union's bailout
fund.
The European Financial Stability Facility has lent Greece
EUR144.6 billion in recent years and the terms of those loans allow
the fund to seek immediate repayment if a borrower defaults on the
IMF. Greece missed a EUR1.56 billion payment to the IMF on
Tuesday.
Viktoria Dendrinou in Athens and Andrea Thomas in Berlin
contributed to this article
Write to Nektaria Stamouli at nektaria.stamouli@wsj.com and
Stelios Bouras at stelios.bouras@wsj.com