Greece will return to credit markets next year if the country’s international creditors offer debt relief measures at a crucial May 24 meeting of eurozone finance ministers, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told a newspaper on Saturday.
The cash-strapped country, which has been cut off from global debt markets since 2014 and agreed a third multibillion-euro bailout in July last year, started talks with lenders earlier this week on how to make its debts more manageable.
Tsipras’ government aims to conclude a review of its progress on bailout-linked reforms at the May 24 meeting, a step that would unlock the next tranche of funds in time to meet repayments to the EU and the IMF as well as state suppliers.
Photo: AP
The leftist leader, re-elected in September last year on promises to mitigate the impact of austerity on crisis-weary Greeks, also hopes for progress on easing its debt burden, which is set to reach 182.8 percent of GDP this year, according to European Commission forecasts.
“If we achieve what we seek for the debt on May 24, we will return to the markets next year,” he told Realnews newspaper.
“We might exit the bailout once and for all a lot before the program expires in August 2018,” Tsipras added.
Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said last year a long-term commitment to debt relief from eurozone countries was key to restoring investor confidence, and that Athens could return to bond markets by the end of this year.
Greece’s 10-year bond yields fell below 8 percent for the first time in more than six months on Tuesday after eurozone finance ministers offered debt relief to the country from next year. They soared to almost 19 percent at the height of the country’s debt crisis in the middle of last year.
Treasury bills are Greece’s main source of short-term funding.
European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis told the Kathimerini that Greece and its lenders were very close to concluding the review on May 24, but no deadline has been set.
Greece last week voted pension and tax reforms, part of a package agreed under its bailout.
Dombrovskis said Athens needed to legislate the remaining measures and contingency reforms, which the country would not have to implement unless it falls short of its fiscal targets.
Tsipras’ government is expected to submit a bill on the pending reforms and secure a parliamentary approval before the Eurogroup meets to wrap up the review.
The package would probably include a set of indirect tax hikes, setting up a new privatization fund, regulations on Greek banks’ “bad loans” and the contingency reforms.
Dombrovskis said eurozone finance ministers aimed to specify a “road map” on the debt relief measures at the May 24 meeting to secure the IMF’s participation in the Greek bailout rather than finalize a full three-stage debt relief program.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS