Eurozone can help Greece repay debt in 5 month bailout extension
The eurozone can help Greece repay maturing debt in the coming months with money that remains available to Athens under the current bailout if the programme is extended by five months to November, a note prepared for eurozone finance ministers said.
The financing note, seen by Reuters, put the total available amount for Greece at 16.3 billion euros ($18.3 billion), composed of 10.9 billion euros now earmarked for Greek bank recapitalisation, the 1.8 billion remaining tranche from the eurozone bailout fund and 3.6 billion euros from profits made by the European Central Bank in 2014 and 2015 on purchased Greek bonds.
The Greek bailout expires on Tuesday and the money still available would disappear if there is no request for an extension from Athens.
“A five months extension (until end of November 2015) of the current programme is feasible during which a total of 12 billion euros of financial support would be provided by the EFSF and the transfer of SMP/ANFA related profits, complemented by an assumed disbursement of the IMF of 3.5 billion euros,” the note said.
“Over that period these external resources, complemented by the Greek primary surplus would allow to cover the amortisation and service of debt for a total of 14.3 billion euros and could cater for both arrears clearance and the reconstitution of some state buffers,” the note said.
The money, however, could be disbursed in four tranches, each depending on the completion of various conditions and reforms by Athens.
The first tranche could be 1.8 billion euros of profits made by the ECB on Greek bond purchases and it would be sent straight to a segregated account used only for debt servicing, which would allow Athens to avoid a default on a 1.6 billion euro payment to the IMF on June 30.
But the money could only be disbursed if the Greek parliament approves a deal with creditors and passes the first set of laws on reforms. The money would also be released after eurozone national parliaments endorse the principle of disbursing the profits.
A second tranche of 4 billion euros would be paid out in mid-July after Greece completes more reforms, called “prior actions” in early July, the note said. Of that, 3.5 billion would again go straight to the debt servicing account.
Another 4.7 billion euros could be disbursed in early August on the completion of more conditions by late July, again to debt servicing account, as would the final tranche of another 1.5 billion euros in October on completion of further reforms.
The IMF could contribute 3.5 billion euros in October, providing Greece passes all the agreed reforms, the eurozone assures it of financing for Greece for the next 12 months and that it sees Greek debt as sustainable, the note said.
[Reuters]
