Greece may win 2-billion-euro payout in days, Dombrovskis says
Greece is on course to qualify next week for a 2-billion-euro ($2.3 billion) disbursement from the country’s new international aid package, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said.
“Things are more or less on track,” Dombrovskis, who is due to visit Athens on October 26-27, told reporters on Wednesday in Brussels. Asked whether the Greek government would likely gain the 2-billion-euro tranche next week, he said: “I would say so.”
Whether the euro area unlocks fresh funds for Greece under its 86-billion-euro aid program is an early test of the credibility of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s second government in 10 months.
Economic-overhaul legislation that the Greek parliament approved last Friday fails to meet all the conditions for the upcoming tranche and further talks are needed with international experts overseeing the rescue package, two euro-area officials have said in the past week on the condition of anonymity.
The scheduled 2-billion-euro payment is part of an initial 26-billion-euro segment under the latest rescue program, as is a follow-on disbursement of 1 billion euros for which Greece has yet to qualify. The first segment also includes about 13 billion euros that Greece used to repay debt and 10 billion euros earmarked to recapitalize Greek banks.
Dombrovskis is due to meet Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and other senior government officials during his upcoming visit to Athens, according to the commission. Dombrovskis said his talks there would cover, among other things, “legislative developments” in Greece.
[Bloomberg]
