26 November 2012

Statement on Greece by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde

Ms Lagarde said that once progress had been made on specifying and delivering on the commitments made at the Eurogroup meeting, in particular implementation of the debt buybacks, she would be in a position to recommend completion of the first review of Greece's programme to the IMF Executive Board.

Ms Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), made the following statement at the conclusion of the Eurogroup meeting: “I welcome the initiatives agreed today by the Eurogroup aimed at further supporting Greece’s economic reform programme and making a substantial contribution to the sustainability of its debt. This builds on the significant efforts by the Greek government to carry forward its fiscal and structural reform agenda. The initiatives include Greek debt buybacks, return of Securities Market Programme (SMP) profits to Greece, reduction of Greek Loan Facility (GLF) interest rates, significant extension of GLF and European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) maturities, and the deferral of EFSF interest rate payments.“

“Taken together, these measures will help to bring back Greece’s debt ratio to a sustainable path and facilitate a gradual return to market financing. The debt ratio is expected to decrease to 124 per cent of GDP by 2020 through significant upfront debt reduction measures of 20 per cent of GDP. In addition, I welcome the commitment by European partners to bring back Greece's debt to substantially below 110 per cent of GDP by 2022, conditional on full implementation of the programme by Greece. This represents a major debt reduction for Greece relative to its current debt trajectory.“

 

Press release

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