BRUSSELS (ANA/ C. Vasilaki) An installment of roughly six to seven billion euros in loans will be given to Greece once the third review of the Greek programme is formally completed, a well-informed Eurozone source told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) on Friday.
According to the source, the decision to disburse the next tranche of loans is expected to be taken at the Eurogroup on January 22 since Greece is scheduled to resolve any issues that are still pending within the coming week.
During Thursday’s Eurogroup Working Group (EWG), Eurozone finance ministry staff were briefed on the progress of the third review of the Greek programme by the institutions, namely the implementation of 55 out of a total of 110 prior actions.
According to the same source, a further 30 prior actions will have been completed with the adoption of the omnibus bill currently tabled in the Greek parliament, scheduled to be voted into law on Monday. The non-legislative measures must also be agreed upon within the week, the source said.
If all this is done, the institutions will complete their compliance report on the implementation of the prior actions on January 18 so that the EWG can convene once again and signal the completion of the review. The decision to disburse the next tranche of loans will be taken by Eurozone finance minsters in principle on January 22 and the board of the European Stability Mechanism will then meet to give its formal approval.
FinMin source: Loan tranche to total 6.7 bln euros
According to exclusive information to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) on Friday, the loan tranche to be disbursed to Greece will amount to 6.7 billion euros.
Finance ministry sources said that of this amount, 3.3 bln euros will cover Greece’s needs from February to June 2018, 1.5 bln euros will be allocated for state arrears to the private sector, and 1.9 bln euros will go to the reserve fund.