ECONOMY

ECB’s Coeure sees new talks on Greek debts in mid-2014

A new restructuring of Greece’s debt is not being discussed by its international lenders though fresh discussions on the sustainability of Athens’ debts are likely later this year, a European Central Bank board member said.

Greece has been shut out from the debt markets since 2010, kept afloat solely by a multi-billion bailout package from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Under its latest bailout programme, Athens will be financed until the second half of 2014 and Greece says it hopes to return to bond markets after getting the budget into primary surplus – a measure that excludes debt costs – this year.

“Is a new restructuring being discussed? No, it is not being discussed because the agreement in the Eurogroup and with the IMF is that the discussion on debt sustainability will come later in 2014,” ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said.

“At some point in 2014, most likely in mid-2014, that discussion on debt sustainability will come again but it is too early to tell,” Coeure added in a hearing at the European Parliament.

The ECB, together with the European Commission and IMF, is part of the “troika” of international lenders.

[Reuters]

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