Ten years earlier, in 2031, Greece will repay the loans of the first memorandum according to two government officials who spoke to Reuters.

Specifically, payments, which will be made in annual installments of 5 billion euros, will allow Greece to repay debt 10 years before the expiration of loans, officials citing the news agency said.

According to Reuters, the Greek economy is gradually recovering from the 2009-2018 crisis, which saw it almost come out of the euro area and caused years of social upheaval, as citizens fought against cuts in wages and pensions caused by austerity.

“Our goal is to fully repay, ten years earlier than scheduled, other loans from the first rescue program ending by 2041“, Said one of the officials. He said that Greece would use a cash stock of 37 billion euros, revenue from primary surpluses higher than the projected and new bond issuations to finance repayments.

Kyriakos Pierrakakis: It will allow Greece to get rid of the title of the most over -indebted country of the EU

In an interview with Reuters, National Economy Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis did not comment on the details of the time or size of the annual payments, but acknowledged that loans would be repaid earlier.

“We are convinced that approaching early repayments will allow Greece to get rid of the title of the most over -indebted country in the coming years; is a realistic and feasible target“, Said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kyriakos Pierrakakis.

Greece’s public debt, now the highest in the eurozone, is expected to fall below 140% to 2027, Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis said in Reuters, without giving an expensive amount.

Borrowing costs have decreased significantly since Greece regained the investment level in 2023 and is now lower than Italy. The two officials said Greece’s public debt is expected to decline to about 135% by 2027, potentially lower than Italy, whose debt is expected to reach 138% of GDP in 2026.

The years of crisis

OR crisis in Greece It began in 2009 when the government discovered a huge hole in the country’s finances, caused by decades of tax evasion and inflated public services.

As the crisis threatened to derail the EU economy, Greece received three rescue packages from the eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund between 2010 and 2015, worth 280 billion euros. Greece paid the IMF in 2022 and by the end of 2024 it had paid 22 billion euros from the first 53 billion euro rescue package. The rest should now be paid by 2031.

Many Greeks who have lost everything in the crisis still fight with lower wages and inflation. However, the economy has recovered and the government expects growth of 2.3% this year, twice the average of the eurozone.

As the debt of major EU economies, including Germany and Italy, is partially increased due to increased defense spending, Greece reduced its debt by more than 50 percentage points from 2020, to 147% of GDP.

The second government official said the debt would be reduced in 2024, as a absolute number, for the first time since it came out of the third rescue package to 365.8 billion euros.