AFP, Helsinki :
Greece on Friday sought permission from the eurozone to repay loans to the IMF before their maturity date, a move Athens hopes will rebuild international trust in its economy. Greece’s new centre-right finance minister Christos Staikouras made his request at his first meeting with his eurozone counterparts since taking office in July.
“I welcome such an early repayment for a very simple reason: because it increases the debt sustainability of Greece,” said Klaus Regling, the head of the European Stability Mechanism, the eurozone’s bailout fund. Regling said once officially launched, the approval process would take about two months.
Regling’s ESM, which is governed by the eurozone 19 finance ministers, holds most of the public debt owed by Greece after a decade of EU and IMF bailouts.
Greece on Friday sought permission from the eurozone to repay loans to the IMF before their maturity date, a move Athens hopes will rebuild international trust in its economy. Greece’s new centre-right finance minister Christos Staikouras made his request at his first meeting with his eurozone counterparts since taking office in July.
“I welcome such an early repayment for a very simple reason: because it increases the debt sustainability of Greece,” said Klaus Regling, the head of the European Stability Mechanism, the eurozone’s bailout fund. Regling said once officially launched, the approval process would take about two months.
Regling’s ESM, which is governed by the eurozone 19 finance ministers, holds most of the public debt owed by Greece after a decade of EU and IMF bailouts.
