FRANKFURT (MNI) – The Eurogroup may only approve another E13.5
billion in funding for Greece at its meeting next week, enough to close
the government’s financing gap through 2014 but leaving open how to meet
the shortfall for the following two years, German business daily
Handelsblatt reported Wednesday evening.
Citing a Eurozone source, the newspaper said the smaller amount
could be met without providing Greece any additional aid package, raised
instead by reducing interest payments on existing funds.
Fresh loans are “not an option” at this time for Eurozone members,
the newspaper reported.
The long-awaited Troika report issued earlier this week estimated
that Greece will need another E17.6 billion through 2016 to grant the
government the extra two years it has asked for to bring its budget
deficit under control.
Eurozone finance ministers could approve the E13.5 billion at their
next meeting Tuesday, leaving open for the time being where the money
will come from between 2014 and 2016, Handelsblatt reported.
It also remains open whether finance ministers will hold Greece to
its longer-term target of returning to debt sustainability – a debt/GDP
ratio of 120% – by 2020, or whether this will also be delayed by two
years.
Eurozone finance ministers support the extension to 2022, but the
International Monetary Fund is opposed. Finding consensus will be “very
difficult,” a Eurozone source told the paper.
-Frankfurt bureau: +49 69 720 142; email: ccermak@mni-news.com
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