Acknowledging that even two bailouts of $325 billion and imposing 74 percent losses on investors to write down debt still haven’t done enough to right Greece’s economy, the country’s international lenders are considering finding other ways to reduce how much has to be paid back.
In an implicit recognition that Greece will never recover unless some of its debt is forgiven, the International Monetary Fund’s Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, said that Athens’ debt pile, projected to reach a staggering 185% of GDP this year, would remain high “well into the next decade”.
That goes against Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ crowing that he has created a “success story,” and that Greece will begin to recover next year and maybe even return to the private borrowing markets.
Lagarde said that, “”The assurances from Greece’s European partners that they will consider further measures and assistance, if necessary, to reduce debt to substantially below 110% of GDP by 2022 … are welcome.” That came as the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) okayed the release of a `1.7 billion euros ($2.2 billion) loan installment.
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