Greece plans an early repayment of 8 billion euros ($8.61 billion) of bailout loans to euro zone countries this year as the country’s economy rebounds from the previous decade’s debt crisis, two officials told Reuters on Wednesday.
Greece regained its investment grade late last year after languishing for 13 years in the “junk” category, which helped it attract strong demand from foreign investors in its bond issues.
“We will repay earlier loans that amount to 8 billion euros and expire in 2026, 2027 and 2028, more than initially planned,” an official with knowledge of the issue told Reuters.
Reuters reported in April that Greece is planning to repay earlier up to 5 billion euros of loans expiring in the coming years to make room for more bond issues without increasing its debt, while adding liquidity to a shallow Greek bond market.
A second official confirmed the sum and the timeline, adding that the government will make use of 5 billion euros from the cash buffer of the 16 billion euros that built up during the third bailout.
The euro zone and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lent Greece about 280 billion euros during the crisis on the condition that Greece impose tough austerity measures.
The country’s third bailout expired in 2018 and since then it has relied solely on debt markets for its borrowing needs.
With the planned payment this year, Greece will have repaid about 20 billion euros from the first bailout loans. In 2022, the country paid off the IMF two years ahead of schedule and in 2023 it repayed 5 billion euros of loans to euro zone countries.
