Latest news with #Pierrakakis
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Greece Bailout Loans Should Be 'Behind Us By 2031': Finance Minister
Greek Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis says the nation plans to repay loans from its first bailout program 10 years ahead of schedule. The last repayment of this set of loans was scheduled for 2041, but Pierrakakis tells Bloomberg's Oliver Crook "it should be completely behind us by 2031." He adds: "We plan to continue de-escalating our debt. We don't plan to pass the bill to the next generation as all the previous generations in Greece did."
Epoch Times
29-04-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Greece Will Ask European Commission to Allow It to Spend More on Defense
Greece's finance minister, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, says he will ask the European Commission to enact a fiscal escape clause to allow it to spend more money on defense in its 2026 budget. On Tuesday, Pierrakakis told public broadcaster He said the extra amount was less than 0.3 percent of Greece's gross domestic product (GDP). Greece, which is also a member of NATO, currently spends around 3 percent of its GDP on defense, one of the highest proportions in the 76-year-old alliance. Greece fought two wars with neighboring Turkey, in 1919–22 and 1974, and there remains tension between the two countries, especially over the island of Cyprus, even though they are both NATO members. Last month, Pierrakakis was promoted to finance minister by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who wants to spend 25 billion euros ($28.4 billion) on defense by 2036 as part of a plan to modernize the armed forces and keep up with Turkey. Related Story 4/29/2025 Greece suffered a debt crisis in 2009, which required it to be 'Great Future' for Greek–US Relationship In the ERT interview, Pierrakakis referred to his recent meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besent. 'The Greek–American relationship is a geostrategic relationship with a great history and a very great future,' he said. Last month, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen set out a five-point action plan, As part of the plan, she said she would activate the national escape clause of the European Union's stability and growth pact, an obscure financial mechanism that prevents member states from borrowing too much. Von der Leyen said this would allow each EU member state to increase its defense spending by 1.5 percent of GDP, which could raise 650 billion euros ($684 billion) over the next four years. Von der Leyen said EU nations were spending on average about 2 percent of their GDP, but she said they needed to increase it to above 3 percent. That would still be well below the 5 percent that U.S. President Donald Trump has urged NATO countries to spend on Without the escape clause being enacted, EU member states would face disciplinary steps for having a budget deficit above 3 percent of GDP. On April 23, Portugal became the first country to ask the commission to activate the clause to allow it to spend more on defense. Germany Likely to Follow Suit Last week, German Finance Minister Joerg Kukies said it was likely Berlin would also ask the European Commission for an exemption from the borrowing limits to increase defense spending in the coming years. 'It looks likely that we may do that, but the final decision needs to be taken,' Kukies said in an interview on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington. He said the details were being discussed by the incoming German government, which is led by the conservative Christian Democratic Union and its coalition partners. Last month, Germany's parliament approved plans for an increase in defense spending. On April 28, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said NATO can count on Berlin to step up its contribution to the defense of Europe. Speaking at a ceremony at NATO's Brussels headquarters to mark the 70th anniversary of West Germany joining the alliance, Steinmeier said: 'Today, with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's war against Ukraine raging on in full force, and with the United States putting fierce pressure on its European allies, Germany is in a crucial position. 'We got the message; you can count on us. We will strive to make Germany, both its military and its infrastructure, the backbone of conventional defense in Europe.' Reuters contributed to this report.
Reuters
11-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Exclusive: Greece to repay first bailout loans by 2031, 10 years early
Summary ATHENS, April 11 (Reuters) - Greece will pay off loans granted under the first of three debt-crisis bailouts by 2031, two government officials told Reuters, as the country seeks to lose its label as the most indebted country in the European Union. The payments, which will come in 5-billion-euro ($5.7 billion) annual increments, will allow Greece to pay off the debt 10 years before the loans expire, the officials said on condition of anonymity. The Greek economy is gradually rebounding from a 2009-2018 crisis that saw it nearly drop out of the euro zone and that triggered years of social unrest as ordinary citizens fought against austerity-induced cuts in wages and pensions. "Our aim is to fully repay, ten years earlier than scheduled, the rest of the loans from the first bailout which expire by 2041," said one of the officials. The source said that Greece will tap a 37 billion-euro cash buffer, proceeds from higher-than-projected primary surpluses and new bond issues to fund the repayments. In an interview with Reuters, Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis did not comment on the specifics of the timing or the size of the yearly payments, but did acknowledge that loans would be paid back ahead of schedule. "We are confident that this approach will enable Greece to shed the title of the most indebted EU country within the coming years," he said. "This is a realistic and achievable goal." Greece's public debt, now the highest in the euro zone, is expected to drop below 140% by 2027, Pierrakakis said, without giving an exact figure. Borrowing costs have fallen sharply since Greece regained investment grade status in 2023 and are now lower than Italy. The two officials said Greece's public debt is expected to drop to about 135% by 2027, potentially above Italy, whose debt is expected to rise to 138% of GDP in 2026. Greece's crisis began in 2009 when the government discovered a giant hole in the country's finances, caused by decades of tax evasion and bloated public services. As the crisis threatened to derail the EU economy, Greece received three bailouts from euro zone countries and the International Monetary Fund between 2010 and 2015, worth 280 billion euros. Greece paid off the IMF in 2022 and by the end of 2024 had paid off 22 billion euros of its 53-billion-euro first bailout. The rest will now be paid by 2031. Many Greeks who lost everything in the crisis are still struggling with lower wages and inflation. But the economy has rebounded and the government expects 2.3% growth this year, twice the euro zone's average. As the debt of major EU economies, including Germany and Italy, is rising in part due to increased defence spending, Greece has cut its debt burden by more than 50 percentage points since 2020, to 147% of GDP. The second government official said that the debt will decline in 2024, as an absolute number, for the first time since it exited its third bailout, to 365.8 billion euros. ($1 = 0.8818 euros)
