July sees government pay back 1.1-bln-euro in debt

The state poured 1.1 billion euros back into the market in overdue debt repayments in July, according to the Bank of Greece and the General Accounting Office.

A total of 970 million euros went to related liabilities of general government agencies to suppliers, while 139 million comprised tax refunds.

Although the target of 1.3 billion euros in debt repayments for June-July was not met, government officials were reportedly satisfied at the procedure’s pace, as approvals for the arrears had lagged in June (due to the fact that European Stability Mechanism funds were disbursed in the last 10 days of the month).

Essentially, the bulk of the 1.1 billion euros was paid out in July alone.

According to the latest available data, presented by Alternate Finance Minister Giorgos Houliarakis, the ministry has already approved 1.6 billion euros to state agencies, which raises the amount at their disposal for debt repayments to about 500 million, while another 200 million is pending approval.

Greece has already received 1.8 billion euros to repay the government’s arrears until August, while 1.7 billion has been earmarked for the repayment of state debts from the second sub-tranche of 2.8 billion euros Greece expects to receive once it fulfills the preconditions agreed with its creditors.