Lagarde Says Greek Restructuring Was Timely

Speaking to CNN, on the economic crisis and the role of women, Ms Lagarde retorted to Christiane Amanpour that highlighted the earlier report, denying any wrongdoing by the IMF.

Ms Lagarde noted that if the IMF had proposed restructuring the Greek debt before it actually did, then there would have been a clear danger of spillover to the rest of the eurozone, since there was no protective barrier

As the IMF chief stated:"It was a question of when and how do you cut the arm," she said, "and how do you stop contamination from possibly putting the whole system down."

"The choice was made to make sure the Europeans built their firewall first before anything very serious was done about the Greek debt," Lagarde told Christiane Amanpour. "So in hindsight, yes it would have been nicer to recommend earlier. But it would have been a possible major, major exposure for the whole of the eurozone."