Calamos Supports Greece
GreekReporter.comGreek NewsEconomyEU to Start Talks on Greek Debt Relief by Mid-April if Bailout...

EU to Start Talks on Greek Debt Relief by Mid-April if Bailout Review is Completed

IMF_GreeceEuro zone finance ministers are likely to start discussing debt relief for Greece on the sidelines of the IMF’s spring meetings in mid-April, if Athens has implemented the required reforms package by then, euro zone officials told Reuters.
Representatives of Greece’s lenders are to resume talks with the Greek government on Monday on fiscal targets, pension reforms, bad loans, tax reforms and the establishment of a privatization fund.
Greece is rushing to complete the bailout program review in order to receive the next loan tranche amounting to 5.7 billion euros. Athens is in need of the funds as it has loan repayments due to the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank worth 3.5 billion euros in July.
The agreement between Greece and creditors is crucial for the commencement of talks on debt relief. It is also a condition for the IMF to participate financially in Greece’s third bailout program.
“If the Greeks want to …have a disbursement well before July, there needs to be agreement on policies by around mid-April – and on 12 April everybody goes to Washington, so best before that,” one senior euro zone official told Reuters.
“Only then can one start discussing debt issues in earnest, and that will take some time. And then at the end everything has to come together simultaneously,” the official said.
“For now everybody is working towards this – but the decisive factor is if the Greeks can pull their act together politically, there is no technically difficult issue anywhere,” the official said.
According to the report, several euro zone finance ministers will participate in the spring meetings of the IMF in Washington on April 15-17, including all the most powerful euro zone members, as well as top representatives of all the key euro zone institutions.
Euro zone officials said it was very likely that there would be a meeting of the ministers in Washington to discuss the Greek debt issue, as well as bilateral talks with Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and euro zone institutions.
“I would find it very strange if it did not happen,” a second euro zone official said.
“If there is an important agreement achieved by then on the package of reforms, then the only remaining topic to conclude the review of Greek reforms and bring the IMF in would be to discuss the debt relief, and it would be an appropriate setting to do that,” the second official said, according to the Reuters report.
Since there will be no write off of principal, talks on debt relief for Greece are likely to focus on extending maturities of existing loans from the euro zone, lengthening grace periods and some minor interest rate adjustments, euro zone officials have said.

See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!



Related Posts