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2 Mar 2015
“We shall squeeze blood out of stone” to repay debt – Greek Fin Min Varoufakis
FXStreet (Mumbai) - In an interview with the Associated Press over the weekend, Greece's Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said that the government aims to start discussions with its creditors on rescheduling its debt repayments in order to make them sustainable.
Key Quotes:
"The IMF repayments, of course, we are going to prioritize, we are not going to be the first country not to meet our obligations to the IMF,"
"We shall squeeze blood out of stone if we need to do this on our own, and we shall do it." However, "the ECB repayments are in a different league and we shall have to determine this in association with our partners and the institutions."
"I do not believe the ECB would accept a delay, but what we can do is we can package a deal that makes these repayments palatable and reasonably doable as part of our overall negotiation regarding the Greek debt, and the next ... contract for growth for the Greek economy between us and the partners,"
"The April agreement concerns reforms. And this is our imperative," the minister said. "At the same time, and independently of the April agreement ... we intend to begin the conversation with our partners and institutions regarding debt sustainability and debt rescheduling... We will be proposing a menu of swaps between new instruments, new public financially engineered instruments and segments of our debt."
"It would be excellent if we could agree with our partners to smooth over this cash flow hump that we're facing over the next few months for the benefits of everyone,".
"But for us, the prerequisite is that we reboot our economic policy in Greece, in conjunction with the institutions and our partners, so as to make sure that this financing of the cash flow problem is not done at the expense of long-term sustainability."
Key Quotes:
"The IMF repayments, of course, we are going to prioritize, we are not going to be the first country not to meet our obligations to the IMF,"
"We shall squeeze blood out of stone if we need to do this on our own, and we shall do it." However, "the ECB repayments are in a different league and we shall have to determine this in association with our partners and the institutions."
"I do not believe the ECB would accept a delay, but what we can do is we can package a deal that makes these repayments palatable and reasonably doable as part of our overall negotiation regarding the Greek debt, and the next ... contract for growth for the Greek economy between us and the partners,"
"The April agreement concerns reforms. And this is our imperative," the minister said. "At the same time, and independently of the April agreement ... we intend to begin the conversation with our partners and institutions regarding debt sustainability and debt rescheduling... We will be proposing a menu of swaps between new instruments, new public financially engineered instruments and segments of our debt."
"It would be excellent if we could agree with our partners to smooth over this cash flow hump that we're facing over the next few months for the benefits of everyone,".
"But for us, the prerequisite is that we reboot our economic policy in Greece, in conjunction with the institutions and our partners, so as to make sure that this financing of the cash flow problem is not done at the expense of long-term sustainability."