Stournaras urges EU to outline debt relief measures

Central Bank Governor Yannis Stournaras said Greece’s European partners must urgently outline debt relief measures to help boost economic recovery and facilitate its return to financial markets in 2018.

European partners promised earlier this year to specify debt relief measures to make Greece’s public debt, the highest in the eurozone, sustainable.

But the “envisaged long-term public debt management measures have not been specified yet,” Stournaras told an EU-Arab summit in Athens on Thursday.

“Urgent action is warranted on the specification and quantification of the foreseen debt relief measures,” he said in a speech.

“This will enhance the credibility and acceptance of the policies pursued, thereby helping to further consolidate confidence, strengthen economic recovery, lower the tax burden and facilitate the return to financial markets after the end of the program.”

Stournaras reiterated that Greece’s economy is expected to grow by 2.5 percent next year and by 3 percent in 2018, as long as Athens speeds up reforms and privatizations agreed with its official lenders under its third international bailout.

[Reuters]