Creditors to have say in managing bond gains

Finance Ministry sources liken the investment program which is to be financed by the return of eurozone central banks’ profits from their Greek bond holdings (SMPs and ANFAs) to a new, smaller European Union subsidy package; that is as long as the change in the use of those proceeds – from servicing the national debt to funding investments – is agreed on.

The first negotiations between Athens and the country’s creditors have shown that those investments will have a special status, outside the Public Investments Program. Crucially, it also appears that Greece’s eurozone partners intend to participate in the management of this investment program.

The project is quite difficult, and its fiscal neutrality must be safeguarded: Greece’s creditors have made it clear that any change in the funds’ use should not affect the primary surplus target.