A mere 41 million euros was disbursed by state coffers last month to ease state arrears towards the private sector, according to figures released by the Bank of Greece (BoG) last week.
The figure for all of 2016 was 3.85 billion euros funneled towards ameliorating the state’s debts.
Payments for the first year of 2017 nevertheless dramatically decreased, given that previous loans extended by the ESM — part of the ongoing third bailout — slowly dry up.
Finance ministry officials have estimated that the next tranche of bailout loans, from which state arrears would be covered, would come in mid March 2017. Previous loan money was allocated, to the tune of 80 percent, for just such payments in February 2017, as per a memorandum mandated provision.
The Greek state’s budget posted a smaller primary surplus in January compared with the same month last year, on a cash basis, the BoG announced on Friday — at 183 million euros in January, down from 287 million euros in January 2016.
