Greece completed its repayment of its International Monetary Fund (IMF) debt on Monday, Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said.
“A chapter that opened in May 2010, with Greece’s recourse to the Fund for financial support, is now over,” Mr Staikouras said in a statement.
Commenting on the event, the finance minister said the completion of the payment was “a very positive relationship, a result of the effective economic policy by the current government,” which he said sent a positive message to markets for the state of Greece’s fiscal situation.
“It also boosts the profile of its public debt and adds a savings of 230 million euros in total to the state budget, to the benefit of Greek society,” he underlined.
Paying off the IMF debt “began, continued, and was completed by the government of New Democracy,” Mr Staikouras noted. At the same time, he said, the government continues, despite the great obstacles and external challenges, to move ahead “decisively and with confidence in its economic and social forces, to make Greece stronger all around, with an economy that is more productive, extroverted, and socially more fair.”
Athens needed three international bailouts from the European Union and the IMF between 2010 and 2015, totalling more than 260 billion euros. Since exiting the bailouts in 2018, it has relied solely on the markets for its financing needs.
Despite exiting the bailout program in 2018, Greece remains under an enhanced surveillance program created by European lenders to monitor spending, an arrangement due to end later this year, Kathimerini and AP reported.
The EU bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, last week also approved the early Greek repayment of 2.65 billion euros ($2.91 billion) in loans made before the ESM was formally established.
