The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has already made 2.5 billion euros in profit out of its loans to Greece since 2010, according to figures released on Wednesday by the UK-based non-governmental organization Jubilee Debt Campaign.
In an announcement ahead of Greece’s 462-million-euro payment to the IMF on Thursday, Jubilee Debt Campaign noted that the IMF’s profit will rise to 4.3 billion euros by 2024 if Greece repays the loans in full.
“The IMF has been charging an effective interest rate of 3.6% on its loans to Greece. This is far more than the interest rate the institution needs to meet all its costs, currently around 0.9%. If this was the actual interest rate Greece had been paying the IMF since 2010, it would have spent 2.5 billion euros less on payments,” the announcement said.
The organization said the IMF had made a total profit of 8.4 billion euros from all its lending since 2010, over a quarter of which was effectively from Greece.
Tim Jones, an economist at Jubilee Debt Campaign, noted that the IMF’s loans to Greece “have not only bailed out banks that lent recklessly in the first place, they have actively taken even more money out of the country. This usurious interest adds to the unjust debt forced on the people of Greece.”
(source: ana-mpa)
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