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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-11-23
CONTENTS
[01] Regling: Greece can achieve the growth rates needed to pay back
its debt
[01] Regling: Greece can achieve the growth rates needed to pay back
its debt
Greece is capable of achieving the growth rates that will enable it to
pay off its debts, European Stability Mechanism (ESM) Managing Director
Klaus Regling said in an interview with the Hong Kong newspaper "South
China Morning Post" published on Monday.
Asked whether Greece could realistically grow at a rate that would allow
it to pay back its debt "and support the social infrastructure that is
expected of a Western government," Regling replied: "It is possible. There
is no doubt about that."
According to the ESM's head, the lending terms to Greece were so
favourable, with such low interest rates and long maturities, that "the
debt stock itself is not very meaningful when we try to assess the debt
burden on Greece."
"It is much lower than the debt to GDP ratio would suggest. It is a little
bit comparable to Japan where we have a debt to GDP ratio of almost 250%
but obviously Japan has no problem servicing it because the interest
rates are very, very low. So it is a little bit in that direction. The
other side of the equation is indeed: what is a reasonable expectation
for growth for Greece in the future. We saw that growth came back last
year with the right policies."
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