Loans of approx 8 billion euros coming from the Support Mechanism will be repaid by the Greek State in December.

As revealed in the Draft Budget submitted today by the Minister of National Economy, Kostis Hatzidakis, the Greek State in December is expected to repay early floating interest loans originating from the mechanism Greek Loan Facility amounting to 7.935 billion euros which normally expire in the years 2026, 2027 and 2028.

It is recalled that loan repayments of 5,290 million euros in December 2023 and 2,645 million euros in December 2022 have preceded.

After this repayment, the Debt of the General Government in 2024 is expected to be marginally limited to 356.5 billion euros from 356.7 billion. euros which was in 2023. Compared to the country’s GDP, the reduction recorded is greater thanks to the high growth rates displayed by the Greek economy. Thus, in 2024 the General Government Debt will decrease to 153.7% of GDP from 161.9% in 2023.

In 2025, the General Government Debt is predicted to fall to 149.1% of GDP, with its nominal value increasing compared to this year, to 361.4 billion euros.

To service the Debt, the Budget paid 6.98 billion euros in interest in 2024, an amount corresponding to 3% of GDP, while in 2025 the relative expenditure is expected to be marginally reduced to 6.9 billion euros, i.e. 2.8% of GDP.

The loan strategy that will be followed next year by the Public Debt Management Organization, among other things, foresees a limited range of issues, due to the low financing needs and also the early repayment of the aforementioned loans. Specifically, as stated in the Draft Budget, the aim of the loan strategy will be to ensure the continuous issuing presence of the Greek State in the international capital markets, the further provision of highly liquid issues by maintaining as far as possible their already extensive physical maturity, the reduction of the borrowing margins of the Greek State as well as the further assurance of the consistency of the Greek State as a state issuer with characteristics of a Eurozone country. At the same time, the existing positions and characteristics of the Greek public debt portfolio will be exploited to the maximum extent possible, in the context of the general opportunities provided in the short-term part of the European curve.