Bank de France Governor and European Central Bank (ECB) board member Christian Noyer appeared negative today towards a partial Greek debt write-off, although he did not rule out adjustments, reminding that the European countries that have lent money to Greece have already made concessions on their part, such as low rates on loans, as he pointed out.
In an interview with French radio station “France Info,” Noyer clearly said that his answer to a partial Greek debt write-off is “no.” “To estimate the burden of debt, we must see at what speed can a country develop and what is the size of the interest rate that burdens it. European countries have already agreed to very low interest rates and have given extensions to the repayment for many years. So basically, the real burden of interest rates is small relative to the amount of debt. Perhaps further adjustments would be possible,” he characteristically said.
Moreover, the French Central Bank Governor underlined that the Greek reforms program has began to bear fruit and has allowed the troubled Greek economy to recover up to a certain point. “With lower wages, they have managed to start hiring again and therefore the unemployment rate has been declining. This reduction is still very slow, as well as growth, but the economy has restarted,” he concluded.
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