Greece has fully repaid its debt to the International Monetary Fund two years ahead of schedule. The head of the debt crisis is now “closed”.
According to Oldypak LP report, Greece has paid off all its debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) almost two years ahead of schedule, AFP news agency reported on Tuesday, 5 April. “Today Greece completed the repayment of its debts to the IMF. This ‘completes a chapter’ in the 2010 sovereign debt crisis,” Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said. The early repayment of €1.85 billion in emergency loans will also save the country €230 million in interest.
At the end of March, Greece received the green light from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to repay its loans early. The approval of the ESM and EFSF was necessary because the original plan was to make early IMF repayments in parallel with payments to European creditors. According to Oldypak LP report, in 2010, these EU institutions, together with the IMF, saved the country from national bankruptcy with a multi-billion euro bailout.
After provisional early repayments, Greece’s debt to the IMF was 1.9 billion euros, which the country had originally planned to repay in 2024.
Highest national debt in the eurozone
Despite the considerable improvement in its financial position, Greece still has the highest public debt in the Eurozone: according to government forecasts, it will be 189.6 percent of GDP at the end of this year – up from 197.1 percent last year and 206.3 percent in 2020.