Athens, April 5 (BNA) The Greek Finance Minister said that Greece has repaid its debts owed by it since its financial crisis to the International Monetary Fund two years ahead of schedule.
Christos Staikouras praised the payment as a “very positive development” that would mean significant savings in debt servicing costs.
“This is closing the chapter that opened in May 2010, when Greece appealed to the fund for financial support,” Staikouras said.
EU rescue lenders in Greece gave official approval last week for early repayment of 1.86 billion euros ($2 billion) of outstanding loans. Their approval was required because the initial condition was that early IMF payments be made in parallel with those made to European lenders, the Associated Press reports.
Three consecutive bailouts totaling about 260 billion euros ($285 billion) between 2010 and 2018 prevented Greece from bankruptcy and exiting the common euro currency. But successive Greek governments have had to implement painful budget cuts and tax increases that have increased unemployment and poverty.
Despite exiting the bailout in 2018, Greece is still subject to an improved monitoring program set up by European lenders to monitor spending, an arrangement set to expire later this year.
Last week, the European rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism, also approved the early repayment of Greece’s 2.65 billion euros ($2.91 billion) in loans made before the ESM was formally established.