Athens begins securitization of revenues from sell-offs
The plan for the repayment of the country’s debt through the securitization of future revenues from privatizations is now being implemented, starting with the funds that Greece borrowed to complete its 11.3-billion-euro bond buyback program.
The method is expected to be used for the repayment of other debts as well, with the assets concerned being the real estate properties that are set for privatization.
Two meetings on the issue took place this week to set the plan in motion – one on the financial experts’ level and another on the technical level, with the participation of officials from the state privatization fund (TAIPED).
Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras had put the idea forward before last year’s election, to the dismay of the country’s creditors. The latest bailout agreement, however, states that Greece can issue securities on the revenues it will collect in future from selling some of its assets to pay back the 11.3 billion euros of the buyback program.
“We are now winning the argument that I had expressed in Parliament just after the election, when I met the troika’s resistance,” Stournaras told Skai TV in December.
