Brussels, 14/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - The first disbursement from the €34.3 billion in financial support to Greece is due on Monday 17 December, the Greek prime minister, Antonis Samaras, said on Friday 14 December after the European summit (see EUROPE 10451). He went on to add that the IMF would pay its share of €3.5 billion in January, bringing the total amount to €52.5 billion by March 2013.
Samaras also defended the decision to allocate a large part of the sum (€23.2 billion) to recapitalisation of the banking sector. In its sixth consecutive year of recession, the country aims to inject capital into the real economy and thus generate growth. “We are dedicated to creating jobs”, said Samaras, who was, moreover, to meet Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia on Friday.
Samaras also welcomed the fact that the decision taken by the EU17 the previous day (see EUROPE 10751) to give their go-ahead to resuming payments translates the fact that the Greek public recognises the sacrifices made. “I think they (Ed: our European partners) are very much aware of this in Europe”, he said, saying it was an accomplishment not only for Greece but for Europe as a whole. He went on to specify that the Portuguese prime minister had said during the European Council that the results obtained for Greece had already had a positive effect on lending conditions in his country on the financial markets.
The day before, during a press conference, the Greek finance minister, Yannis Stournaras, had explained that the burden of debt could be reduced by 20 percentage points compared to GDP, thanks to a debt repurchase operation and the later reduction of interest rates on loans granted to Athens. Samaras hoped, moreover, that the possibility of direct bank recapitalisation through the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) would lighten the Greek debt by a further €50 billion. The objective fixed by the Eurogroup is to achieve a debt/GDP ratio of 124% in 2020.
The Greek finance minister had, nonetheless, recalled on Thursday that payments foreseen in 2013 will depend on whether the conditions in the protocol of agreement are met. These include fiscal reform presented on Thursday evening to the national parliament. Athens has the ambition of harvesting €2.5 billion in additional tax receipts thanks to the reform.
Much remains to be done to take the Greek economy to recovery. Nonetheless, if Greece works effectively, this new stage will be “a starting point of a set of changes”, Samaras said, although it is in their hands to “make the best of those opportunities”. (EL/transl.jl)