FRANKFURT (MNI) – There will be a debate in the course of the
coming week on the possibility of lowering the interest rates charged by
the European Financial Stability Fund on loans to countries that request
its assistance, Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker said Friday.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event here, Juncker,
who also serves as Luxembourg’s Prime Minister, said he was not sure if
the so-called capital key, or percentage share of capital paid by each
contributing country, would change for the new permanent mechanism, the
ESM.
Asked about a new lower interest rate for the EFSF, Juncker said,
“we will have a debate in the course of this week concerning the
pricing. We have made a decision as far as Greece is concerned and I do
think that this is a good indication for other pricing measures.”
Eurogroup leaders, at their special summit a week ago, agreed to
reduce by 100 basis points the interest rates charged on aid loans to
Greece by EMU partners.
The leaders agreed on the general principal of providing such
relief to other fiscally-troubled Eurozone nations that may request aid.
But they declined to offer the same benefit to Ireland, the only other
country with an aid deal, because of a dispute over the country’s low
corporate tax rate.
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