Bloomberg on Thursday assessed that the “glitch” in disbursing the last 15-billion-euro loan tranche to Greece, held up due to Berlin’s annoyance over a measure freezing lower VAT rates on a handful of Greek islands, adds to “signs that that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has his work cut out to regain the trust of his euro-area creditors as he leads the country out of its bailout program next month.”
The assessment came a day before the ESM’s board, as expected, approved of the 15-billion-euro tranche – the last of the third bailout – in principle, and under the condition that “national procedures” will be completed. The latter was a reference to the German government’s objection this week.
The ESM, in fact, promised that the last memorandum loan money will be disbursed very quickly, once all EZ countries are on board.
