Greek return to markets possible without QE, says FinMin

Greece’s short-term objective is to return to bond markets and this will be possible even without the inclusion of its bonds in the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing program, the country’s finance minister said on Thursday.

“The Greek government now has a short to medium-term objective which is of course access to the markets, which is… a possibility with or without QE,” said Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos at an Economist conference in Athens.

“We don’t want to go too early but … when we do go we want to ensure that markets know that this is part of a strategy,” he said.

Tsakalotos said he was “entirely confident” that Greece would post “good growth” in 2017 and 2018.

“The medium term (target) is to make sure that this growth is sustainable,” he said.

[Reuters]