Brussels, 26/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - Greece will not need a new loan on top of the current bailout, said the country's finance minister, Yannis Stournaras, on Greek television channel Mega on Monday evening, adding that agreement should be reached before the end of the year with the troika of lenders (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) on the outstanding issues, before Greece takes over the baton from Lithuania as the new presidency of the Council of the EU on 1 January 2014.
For a few weeks now, leaders of the eurozone have been saying that a third bailout will be unavoidable to cover Greece's financing needs until the end of the IMF aid programme in 2016, but Stournaras disagreed: “We do not need a new loan because I believe that we will have the money we need under t he existing program, which runs through 2016. What do we need another memorandum for? We would happily sign one if they gave us a loan with 2.5 percent interest, because we couldn't get 2.5 percent from the markets right now”, he said.
Last week, the IMF said that Greece's financial needs could be met with the existing liquidity buffers (see EUROPE 10970). The eurozone has not mentioned a loan as such, simply talking of extra aid, probably with new strings attached.
On the question of the budget gap, Stournaras said that consensus had emerged with the troika of a gap of €1 billion, much less than the €2.9 billion suggested by the troika earlier on. Stournaras commented: “We do not accept that there is a gap. The issue is about finding the right measures to achieve our goals”.
The outstanding issues needed to conclude the troika's mission would have to be settled by the end of the year to allow the disbursement of €1 billion of aid before the start of the Greek Presidency in January. The troika is due to return to Athens in December.
Greece would like talks to begin right now on reducing the public debt. The eurozone is due to discuss this when Eurostat confirms the country's primary deficit for 2013 in the spring (not including debt-servicing). The prime minister, Antonis Samaras, is reported to disagree with the idea of postponing the talks until after the European elections in May 2014. A high-ranking European official has suggested that the talks might begin in June. (EL/transl.fl)