Greece’s economy is finally recovering, with three successive quarters of positive growth rates predicted in 2016, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos informed his Eurozone counterparts on Friday, according to Greek finance ministry sources. They reported an “excellent atmosphere” at the informal Eurogroup meeting held in Bratislava, which both Tsakalotos and Alternate Finance Minister George Chouliarakis attended.
They also confirmed that the Eurogroup had called for a rapid completion of remaining milestones by the end of September so that the remaining 2.8 billion euros in bailout loans might be disbursed, with Tsakalotos agreeing that it was in everyone’s interests for the prior actions to be completed soon.
With respect to Greece’s debt, the Greek delegation noted that short-term measures to make this sustainable must be taken immediately and medium-term measures decided.
The Greek side also reported a rapid rate in settling the state’s outstanding debts to the private sector, noting that 1.7 billion euros of the 2.8 billion euros due to be disbursed will be spent on settling these debts. According to finance ministry figures, even though the public sector initiated payments in mid-July, debts amounting to 1.45 billion euros had been paid by the end of August from the June sub-tranche of 1.8 billion euros, meaning that 80 pct of these funds reached the real economy.
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