ECONOMY

Eurogroup to give its nod on SMPs, ANFAs

Eurogroup to give its nod on SMPs, ANFAs

Wednesday’s Eurogroup meeting will provisionally green-light the disbursement of eurozone central banks’ profits from Greek bond holdings (SMPs and ANFAs), a senior eurozone official told reporters on Monday.

The 767 million euros set for return to Greece will be disbursed next year, after securing the approval of a number of national parliaments, and mainly the financial affairs committee of the German parliament.

Any discussions on changing the use of those funds will not take place before 2020 and will concern the next batch of earnings that are scheduled for disbursement in June. At the last Eurogroup Working Group meeting Greece raised the issue of changing the use of those resources from that agreed in June 2018, so that instead of paying off the national debt they would be used for specific investment plans to boost growth in the country.

The European official explained that Athens may want to raise this issue but Wednesday’s Eurogroup will not examine it.

In fact, the political developments in Germany may well affect the possible change of use of those resources, as a snap election there could put the Greek demand on ice.

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