End of an era for the IMF as a lender to Greece

LAST UPDATE: 21:36

By Tasos Dasopoulos

End of an era from today for the role of the IMF as a lender to Greece, after the early repayment of the remaining 1.86 billion euros of the Fund’s loans to Greece from the 1st and 2nd memorandum.

With the third consecutive early repayment from 2019 (2.7 billion euros were repaid early at the end of 2019 and another 3.3 billion in March 2021) Greece repays loans totaling approximately 7.9 billion euros per which normally expired in 2024. Early repayment of loans leads to savings of 230 million euros in interest.

At the same time, the IMF will have the obligation for an annual evaluation of the Greek economy only on the basis of Article IV of its statutes, ie the formal evaluation for all its Member States but no longer for the semi-annual evaluations imposed by its status as a creditor of the country .

“It closes a chapter that was opened in May 2010, with the application of Greece to the Fund, for financial support”, said on the occasion of the disbursement of the amount to the IMF the Minister of Finance Mr. Christos Staikouras

The Minister noted that this is a very positive development, which sends a positive message to the markets about the financial situation of the country, strengthens the public debt profile and brings savings to the state budget, totaling 230 million euros, for the benefit of the Greek society.

It is recalled that, in addition to the early repayment of IMF loans, Greece has pledged to participate a posteriori in the new lending program prepared by the Fund for countries facing fiscal programs. The program started in 2012 but Greece was absent due to the economic crisis. Now, Greece will pay its participation (approximately 1 billion euros) with a loan made by the Bank of Greece.