Greece urges creditors for debt relief

ATHENS — Greece told its EUIMF creditors on Sunday there should be “no excuse” for delays to debt relief payments now that Athens has “fulfilled its obligations” with new austerity cuts.

The appeal came on the eve of a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels that will discuss the issue.

“Our country by adopting the new measures through the Greek parliament has fulfilled its obligations totally and on time,” Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said. “There is no excuse for further delay on the issue of debt relief ”.

The Greek parliament on Thursday adopted a new round of austerity cuts which the government hopes will secure a pledge of debt relief and loan disbursements by EU-IMF creditors.

The bill entails €4.9 billion ($5.4 billion) in pension cuts and lower tax breaks in 2018-2021 and was passed by a majority of 153 lawmakers.

“The decisions are now in the hands of the institutions in order to pave the way for our access to the QE [European Central Bank’s asset purchase programme], and our return to bond markets”, Tsakalotos said.

The question of debt relief has served as a point of contention for months between Berlin and the IMF, which does not want to participate in the bailout programme unless Greece’s debt burden is brought down to manageable levels. — AFP