ESM disburses 7.5 bln euros in bailout funds to Greece, confirms Regling

The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) has disbursed 7.5 billion euros in bailout funds to Greece after the successful conclusion of the country’s performance review, the head of the eurozone bailout fund said on Tuesday.

“ESM disbursed today 7.5 billion euros to Greece,” said Klaus Regling after meeting Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos in Athens.

Regling said the ESM would continue to provide loans to Athens under favorable conditions and noted that interest rates charged on Greek loans are less than 1.0 percent with the average maturity of the loans at 32 years.

“We want to help the Greek economy for the entire period,” he said but added that “we don’t know exactly, given that forecasts are very uncertain, what the needs in a few years time will be.”

Regling said that a 3.5 percent primary surplus target, which Greece has agreed to achieve in 2018 should be respected. The International Monetary Fund has said it considers the target as too ambitious and would prefer it being lowered to 2.0 percent.

[Reuters]