Athens forced to wait a little bit longer for SMPs, ANFAs

The Eurogroup Working Group of senior eurozone finance ministry officials on Tuesday gave Athens their qualified approval for the disbursement of 767 million euros from eurozone central banks’ earnings from Greek bond holdings (SMPs and ANFAs).

The matter will be discussed at the December 4 Eurogroup meeting, but the final approval will not be granted before mid-December, and only after the German parliament’s financial affairs committee has convened and decided on the issue.

The Greek side has advanced talks further, opening the issue of the change in use for the resources: Instead of using them for the payment of the national debt (as the Eurogroup had decided in June 2018), Greece has asked to use them to fund specific investment plans that will strengthen growth in the country, because this would be the most efficient way of indirectly reducing the Greek debt, the government argues.