Greece to legislate pending reforms in return for loans, debt relief

Send a link to a friend  Share

[June 09, 2017] 

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's parliament is set to approve on Friday pending reforms demanded by the country's international lenders to conclude a review of its bailout progress and qualify for more loans needed to repay debt maturing in July.

The vote takes place a week before euro zone finance ministers meet in Brussels on June 15 to discuss Greece's bailout progress and measures to reduce its debt, which stands at about 180 percent of GDP after seven years of crisis.

"We are submitting amendments on prior actions with which the bailout review is also officially concluded," Labour Minister Effie Achtsioglou told lawmakers before the vote scheduled for later in the evening.

"It's clear that Greece has fulfilled its promises and met its obligations. It has already done more than it was supposed to ... and it's now the lenders and our partners' turn to meet their commitments."

If parliament approves the so-called prior actions, which include labor and pension reforms, euro zone finance ministers are likely to approve a new loan tranche at the June 15 meeting. Athens needs the funds to repay about 7.5 billion euros in bonds and loans maturing in mid-July.

Achtsioglou said the country's lenders also had the "legal and moral obligation" to ease Greece's debt mountain.

On May 22, the euro zone and International Monetary Fund failed to reach an agreement on the size of debt relief and the mix of measures the country will implement after its bailout expires in 2018, to make its debt sustainable, mainly because of differing growth assumptions.

Athens rejected a draft Eurogroup statement that night, saying it did not offer enough clarity to guarantee a recovery.

[to top of second column]

Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos arrives for a news conference at the ministry in Athens, Greece March 30, 2017. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' government seeks a return to bond markets as early as this summer.

It hopes that debt relief will help convince the European Central Bank to include the country's bonds in its asset-buying program, a move that would help restore investor confidence.

During the parliamentary debate on Friday, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said that along with a clear solution on debt, Athens was also seeking funds to boost growth.

One way to help make the country's debt sustainable is to increase its gross domestic product, he said.

"We are fighting for more guarantees regarding our growth strategy and its funding," Tsakalotos said.

 

(Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Back to top