Euro zone eyes tentative OK for more Greek loans, but debt relief deal unlikely

Record ID: 102239

  • Title: Euro zone eyes tentative OK for more Greek loans, but debt relief deal unlikely
  • Date: 24th May 2016
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (MAY 24, 2016) (REUTERS) SIGN FOR DUTCH PRESIDENCY OF EU
  • Embargoed: 8th June 2016 16:07
  • Keywords: Euro zone Greece Dijsselbloem Schaeuble Kazimir Dombrovskis IMF debt
  • Location: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
  • City: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Budget/Taxation/Revenue,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0014J6485J
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Euro zone finance ministers are likely on Tuesday (May 24) to approve in principle a reform package from Greece that will unblock new loans, but they appear far from committing to the debt relief that the IMF has called for.
    Euro zone officials said Greece had implemented all the economic reforms required for new disbursements, though final approval would depend on unspecified "technical corrections" to aspects of the Greek legislation.
    The ministers were therefore likely to ask their deputies to oversee the required amendments over the next week or two and then give the final go-ahead.
    "Today we are going to hear from the institutions whether all the reforms have been implemented in the right way, but I think that the Greek government has done a lot of work, certainly since the summer and in the last couple of weeks also, pushing forward reforms, difficult measures and getting them through parliament. So I hope that that is a full agreement between the institutions and that we can move on in the programme," Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem told reporters.
    German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said he was confident an agreement could be found on Tuesday.
    The size of the next loan tranche has not been decided, officials said, with proposals ranging from 8-9 billion euros ($8.9-10 billion) to 12 billion euros.
    Slovakian Finance Minister Peter Kazimir said many things remain open and unresolved.
    "We should focus on disbursement, on agreement about the tranche and also we would also like to conclude the review, conditionally maybe, but just conclude this is the crucial for us. Talking about debt measures and IMF participation, I can imagine to wait for a later stage with these issues," he said.
    Greece needs another tranche of bailout funds by mid-July at the latest to avoid defaulting on debt repayments to the IMF and the European Central Bank.
    Athens' debt servicing costs will become progressively less manageable over coming decades, and the ministers are also due to discuss relief on the debt pile, most of which is held by the euro zone bailout fund.
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