ATHENS (AFP) – Greece has initiated the early repayment of further billions in loans to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikouras announced on Monday in Athens that loans totaling 3.6 billion euros would be due in 2021 and 2022. His country had already repaid IMF loans early in November 2019.
When Greece has made the repayments it has now announced, it will have repaid 80 percent of its international loans. The Ministry of Finance in Athens said that “despite the frightening circumstances” caused by the corona pandemic, the government was continuing to do “its best” to bring the country back to normal.
Because of its enormous mountain of debt, Greece received a total of around 300 billion euros from the EU, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the IMF between 2010 and 2018. In return, the country had to implement painful reforms to reduce its mountain of debt and increase its competitiveness.
According to the rating agency Moody’s, Greece’s debt ratio threatens to rise from 176 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to 200 percent by the end of the year, before it is expected to decrease again in 2021.
Contact the author: [email protected]
DJG / once
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 28, 2020 15:10 ET (20:10 GMT)
–
