“If the next 18 months are spent well, then I’m certain this will be the last bailout program that Greece will have to implement,” estimated Klaus Regling, speaking to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
The managing director of the European Stability Mechanism went on to predict the country’s return to markets in 2018.
The ESM is now in position to lend to other eurozone member states, without the involvement of the International Monetary Fund, but Greece is excepted from this, as any withdrawal of the IMF would mean the end of the country’s bailout.