The European Stability Mechanism will continue to support Greece as long as the country fulfills its obligations, said the president of European Union’s rescue fund, Klaus Regling.
Regling made the statement after meeting with Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos in Athens on Tuesday. The ESM chief is who on an official visit to the Greek capital along with President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. Regling also said that the tranche of 7.5 billion euros of bailout cash will be disbursed today (Tuesday).
The ESM president also spoke in regards to the Greek debt relief. He said that euro zone finance ministers are committed to ease the Greek debt, if needed. He also said that the fund has already began to implement short term measures for the Greek debt management.
Regling underlined that ESM is Greece’s long-term partner and the country’s biggest lender. Thereby, it is to the interest of ESM that Greece’s third bailout program is successful. He stressed that ESM lends Greece at a 0.8% interest rate for 32 years.
Regarding the target for Greece to achieve a 3.5% primary surplus in 2018 — a number the Greek government finds too high — Regling said that Athens agreed to the specific target last July.
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