BERLIN (MNI) – OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria on Tuesday
welcomed the second rescue package for Greece, reached in the early
hours of dawn after intense multi-lateral bargaining among Eurozone
finance ministers, the European Commission, the ECB, the IMF, private
creditors and Greece’s top government officials.
The officials and private bankers moved to prevent an impending
Greek default by agreeing to an E130 billion bailout package for Athens
and a E107 billion debt exchange/reduction deal that included a larger
contribution by private sector creditors than they had previously agreed
to.
The deal, reached after 13 hours of talks, also included greater
contributions by the public sector in the form of lower interest rates
on loans to Greece and an agreement by the European Central Bank and its
constituent national central banks to use the profits on their Greek
government bonds to ease Greece’s debt burden.
“The financial support by the euro area and the IMF, along with an
estimated voluntary 53.5% cut of Greek debt holdings by the private
sector, will provide the necessary confidence and breathing space for
Greece to work on its recovery and for Europe to address its sovereign
debt crisis,” Gurria said.
Yet, “long-term success will depend on Greece’s efforts to advance
the structural and social reforms necessary to fire its engines of
economic growth up to full speed,” the OECD head cautioned.
It is urgent for Greece to improve tax collection, boost
privatisation and reinforce structural reforms in labor and products
markets, Gurria stressed.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-2 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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