In 2025, the Ministry of National Economy and Finance and ODDIX will move in the direction of the early repayment of expensive loans contracted by the country within the framework of the memoranda.

These moves will be made depending on the conditions that will prevail in the markets and as pointed out in APE-MPE by officials of the ministry, the goal will be twofold: on the one hand, there will be an alleviation in the cost of servicing interest, which however is relatively small and amounts to tens of millions of euros over three years. And on the other hand, mainly to give a strong signal to the international markets about the position and potential of the Greek economy.

The main part of the plan foresees the continuation of the early repayment of Greece’s bilateral loan with eurozone countries, so that by 2030 a large part of it has been repaid, much earlier than 2041 which is foreseen in the timetable for its full repayment. This will be done by paying annual installments of €2.645 billion per year, with the ESM loans being repaid in 2060 and the EFSF in 2070.

This year, the specific moves, based on the official planning, will be completed on December 15, when they will be repaid early, after the “green light” from the ESM, obligations amounting to 7.93 billion euros expiring in 2026, 2027 and in 2028. The discount will be made with an amount of 5 billion euros from the “cushion” of reserves, while the remaining approximately 3 billion euros will come from the repos of the General Government bodies.

It is noted that the loan from the first memorandum signed by the country in 2010 with eurozone countries was 52.8 billion. euros with a repayment period from 2020 to 2040 (3-month euribor rate + 0.5%) and with early redemption moves it has been reduced to 32.3 billion. euro. At the same time, as of this year, the repayment of the EFSF loans amounting to 141.8 billion euros with repayment in 2056, while from 2034 the 86 billion euros from the ESM until 2060 are added.

According to officials of the Ministry of Finance, the goal is to reduce the public debt to 140% of GDP, and this reduction to move at high levels on an annual basis, so that at the end of 2028 it amounts to 130% of GDP. At the same time, another pursuit, based on the signal that will be given to the markets, is for the country to secure investment grade in 2025 from Moody’s, the only rating agency that has not upgraded the Greek debt. But also for the Greek economy to climb more “steps”, getting closer to the A+ grade it had in 2010.

The country currently has high cash reserves, which are estimated at more than 15% of GDP, when in an average European country it is less than 5%.

Thus, given these high cash reserves and the limited financing needs of 2025, ODDIX plans, according to the information, to go to the markets to borrow up to 10 billion euros, while the State’s borrowing needs do not exceed 5 billion euros .

The objective of this loan strategy, explain the officials of the Ministry of Finance, will be to ensure the continuous issuing presence of the State in the international capital markets, the further provision of highly liquid issues by maintaining as much as possible their already extensive physical maturity, the reduction of borrowing margins of the State, as well as further ensuring the consistency of the Greek economy as a state issuer with characteristics of a eurozone country.