Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ drumbeat that the failed economy will begin to recover and there will be a return to the markets this year has been undercut by one of its lenders, the International Monetary Fund, which said there’s still a lot of uncertainty about it.
The IMF, along with the European Union and European Central Bank, make up the EU-IMF-ECB Troika that has been putting up $325 billion in two bailouts since 2010, but the last of it will run out this year, leaving Greece either to borrow still more or hope investors will return despite being stiffed with 74 percent losses by a previous government three years ago.
IMF spokesman William Murray told a reporters there has been renewed investor interest in some parts of the Greek economy, locked in a sharp contraction since a worldwide recession in 2008 but said that, “There are a lot of challenges ahead.”
“The uncertainty is still large. But our experience suggests that once a virtuous circle is under way, confidence can return quite fast,” he said, declining to speculate just when such a turnaround will happen.
Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras also insists the comeback will begin this year because Greece will have a primary surplus for the first time in 10 years and will try to convince the Troika to provide debt relief so the country won’t have to pay back all the loans.
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