European Stability Mechanism (ESM) Managing Director Klaus Regling clarified on Thursday that Greece’s institutional lenders will decide next August whether the thrice-bailed out Eurozone member will need further debt relief.
According to a Reuters dispatch quoting the head of the Eurozone’s rescue fund from Nicosia, and in contrast to the more positive scenario of a “clean exit” being peddled by the leftist-rightist coalition government, Regling said the country has “received more debt relief in the past few years than any other country in the world”.
In more-or-less echoing the “Schaeuble line” concerning the Greek debt issue, Regling said Greece has significantly benefited from favorable lending terms extended by creditors – as opposed to sovereign capital markets – and does not have “a debt overhang for the next few years”.
The third bailout (memorandum) will end in August 2018, although creditors’ supervision of the Greek state’s finances will more-or-less continue, whereas Athens must consider market borrowing to service its loan needs from now on.
