Greece to Get $11.5 Billion Payout as Debt Relief Weighed

Greece’s creditors reached an agreement that will allow the release of 10.3 billion euros ($11.5 billion) of aid and committed to ease the nation’s 321 billion euros of debt.

   At a meeting of euro-area finance ministers in Brussels Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund stood down from its hard-line stance after delaying the payout, having insisted that Greece’s program didn’t offer a path to fiscal sustainability.

   “We on the part of the IMF have made a major concession -- and I might as well be open about that -- we had argued that these debt-relief measures should be approved up front and we have agreed that they will be approved at the end of the program,” said IMF Director of European Department Poul Thomsen, who added that the fund intends to participate in the program subject to the board’s approval. “We all showed flexibility.”

   After an 11-hour meeting, the ministers agreed to release the much-delayed aid and set a path toward debt relief after the Washington-based IMF yielded its stance and allowed an accord to be reached. Some euro-area nations including Germany and the Netherlands, which have elections next year, had resisted the restructuring measures as they are restrained by domestic electorates that have grown weary of helping the Greeks.

Πηγή: bloomberg.com