ECB’s Coeure: The stronger Greece’s post-program arrangement, the better
The stronger the post-bailout arrangement Greece commits to after the end of its adjustment program, the better it will be for the country when it returns to the financial markets, European Central Bank executive board member Benoit Coeure said on Friday, at a joint press conference following the Eurogroup meeting in Sofia.
“On the post-program arrangements it’s entirely a decision for the Greek government to take, so the only message we can have here is, the stronger, the better,” he said.
Considering Greece does not have an investment credit rating, if the country opts for a clean exit from the program, which is what the government wants to do, “what has been so far a conversation between the Greek government and the institutions and the Eurogroup will become a conversation between the Greek government and the capital markets, which is quite a different,” he said.
Coeure noted that the growth strategy the Greek authorities are preparing is part of the confidence-building exercise, and called for “front-loaded” debt relief measures.
“The strong and credible debt measures are an essential part of it. The more front-loaded they can be, the more automatic and less conditional, the more they can contribute in a confidence-building exercise between Greece and capital markets,” he said.
