Creditors “green light” 800-million sub-tranche to Greece

A note distributed to members of the EuroWorking Group and revealed by Skai.gr, states that: “This note provides the European institutions’ assessment of the progress of the Greek authorities in clearing net arrears. It confirms that the data provided show that the clearance of net arrears complies with the ESM programme requirements, as a basis for the ESM BoD to release the remaining €0.8 billion of programme financing dedicated for arrears clearance that remains from the decision of 7 July 2017”.
The disbursement of the last instalment from the second evaluation was directly linked to the repayment of overdue debts of EUR 1.2 billion. According to the document, the Greek side exceeded the target, repaying 1.524 billion euros. The note continues by also urging the Greek government to continue working on controlling overdue debts. “The institutions conclude that progress in clearing arrears has been satisfactory. Given the available domestic resources and the ESM programme support, the authorities are urged to prioritise the work on arrears clearance so as to achieve the zero arrears target by the end of the programme. However, structural weaknesses that cause the accumulation of new arrears remain and should be tackled as soon as possible. To this end, the authorities should advance the work on the arrears audit, which is expected to be completed by March 2018”.