The European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund issued a statement today on the first quarterly review of the Greek government’s economic program.
To recall, last May the Euro area finance ministers unanimously agreed to activate the financial aid to Greece through bilateral loans which are pooled by the European Commission. They agreed a three year joint lending programme aimed at avoid a sovereign default by Greece, and prevent a crisis of confidence from spreading to other Euro zone countries. The financial aid facility to Greece worth € 110 billion is funded jointly by the Euro zone member states (€80 billion) and the IMF (€30bn). In order to see the financial aid activated, Greece has adopted and committed to implement a programme of austerity measures. The loans will be paid in several instalments over three years, but the disbursement of all instalments is conditional on the implementation of the Greece´s austerity programme.
According to the above-mentioned statement “the program has made a strong start” but “important challenges and risks remain.” Nevertheless, such appraisal will pave the way for Greece to receive, in September, the second instalment of €9 billion, €6.5 billion from the euro area and € 2.5 billion from the IMF.
