Staikoura touts benefits of up to eight billion euros in liquidity from EU pandemic package for Greece  

Finance minister Christos Staikouras welcomed the results of the historic Eurogroup pandemic rescue package which he depicted as a satisfactory but hardly optimal compromise.

Staikouras said that Greece's three main demands were met.

The first is direct liquidity for businesses which will not be laid out through banks.

The second is a guarantee mechanism endowed with two billion euros.

Thirdly, the interest payments on loans will be subsidised

Staiklouras said that the deal represented a compromise between Northern European and Southern European countries which sought collective Eurozone borrowing with a mutualisation of debt.

Staikouras said that Greece will get between seven and eight billion euros that Greece will receive is essentially borrowing - mainly on EU level - at a very low interest rate.

He stresseed that this does not constitute a precautionary credit line with tough conditionalities which some had advised that Greece request when the third and last bailout package ended in August, 2018.

Foreclosures remain a hurdle

The government however did not manage as it wanted to gain an extension of the framework protecting the primary residence of delinquent debtors through the end of the year.

The framework passed by the Syriza government expired on 31 December and the government secured a four-month extension that ends on 30 April.

The uncertainty affects tens of thousands of borrowers whose primary residence will go on the block if a new arrangement is not possible. Protection from foreclosure is based on strict income and property criteria.

In an interview with ERT state television Staikouras avoided detailing how the government intends to proceed thereafter saying...