Eurozone ministers gives short-term debt relief to Greece
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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (L) welcomes European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici (R) during their meeting in his office in Athens, on November 28, 2016
Eurozone finance ministers have approved extending Greece's debt repayment period without cutting the crippling debt burden overall.
The short-term measure also includes slight adjustments to the interest rates, according to a statement made by the eurozone's 19 finance ministers who met in Brussels on Monday.
The ministers, however, refused to officially sign off on the second review of Greece's huge 86-billion-euro bailout, citing questions about Greece's reform programs.
For Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, the measure still represented "a considerable success and another decisive step for the Greek economy toward exiting the crisis.”
Greece relies on credit from the European currency bloc and other Western bodies to avoid bankruptcy. Since 2010, the country has received two bailouts which have failed to solve its problems but left Athens saddled with a massive debt instead.
Greece's debt is on path to grow to 315 billion euros ($334 billion) or around 180 percent of output this year, according to the latest EU data.
Western creditors are resisting further release of the loans without fresh austerity measures which are a lightning rod for more protests and unrest in Greece. Tsipras is already facing anger at home for trampling on the promises he made before taking office in January 2015 when he vowed to free Greece from excessive demands by its creditors but later bowed to their pressure.
EA
