BRUSSELS: Eurozone member states will honour a 2012 pledge to help Greece manage its crushing debt mountain but Athens must first meet conditions set, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said.
At the same time, any debt review will come only later this year after Greek efforts to live up to its rescue programme commitments and put the economy and banks back on track are assessed, Dijsselbloem said after a meeting of the 18 eurozone finance ministers.
Eurozone nations “reaffirm their commitment to provide adequate support until Greece regains full market access, provided Greece fully complies with the requirements and objectives of the adjustment programme,” the ministers said in a statement.
“The relative merits of possible debt sustainability measures, as stated (in November 2012) will be considered in the context of the next review,” it added.
Greece has been pressing its eurozone partners to begin debt relief talks as soon as possible, having last year chalked up a primary budget surplus, a key landmark set for the country’s recovery. EU data agency Eurostat confirmed last month that Athens had achieved a 2013 primary budget surplus — the balance before interest, bank support and other payments are counted — equal to 0.8 percent of GDP.
Greece is also returning to growth after six years of brutal recession which has shrunk the economy by a quarter. But it remains saddled with a debt mountain equal to some 175 percent of GDP, way above the EU limit of 60 percent.
Dijsselbloem said Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras had raised the issue directly at the meeting and pressed “the importance of the (eurozone) sticking” to the 2012 pledge to consider further measures. AFP
