Euro crisis: Greece needs extension on fiscal pledges

ATHENS: Greece needs a two-year extension from its international creditors to meet fiscal pledges, and a liquidity boost from the European Central Bank (ECB), said Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. In a Washington Post interview, Samaras said that the recession-hit country was determined to adopt a new austerity package worth 11.7 billion euros ($15 billion) to avoid leaving the eurozone. But he said the programme should apply over four years instead of the currently agreed timeframe of two years – his most specific extension request in weeks. Greece must agree with its so-called ‘troika’ of creditors – the EU, IMF and the ECB – to receive the next slice of 31 billion euros from its bailout package. Samaras said the money was needed to recapitalise Greek banks and pay more than $6 billion that the state owes to the private sector. And with Greece excluded from borrowing on financial markets, the prime minister said the country needed to get liquidity through the ECB.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2012.