All sides set conditions for Greek debt breakthrough
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Significance
The IMF insists that Greece’s debt must be made sustainable before it will again participate in programme financing. Yet IMF participation is required if the bailout plan is to proceed, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble says; the Fund and the euro-area remain at odds over debt relief. Greece will need the next loan tranche by June to make debt repayments in July to private investors, the ECB, IMF and European Investment Bank.
Impacts
- Germany, which faces federal elections this September, will accept no further debt relief until after the third bailout has concluded.
- The IMF is under pressure from developing countries to end its involvement in financing a first world EU member state.
- The package being finalised will probably not encounter any serious resistance from within the ruling Syriza party.