Debt

Greece's economic outlook has improved notably, but significant challenges remain, the IMF said in a report released on Wednesday.

The Public Debt Management Agency will auction 26-week treasury bills on Wednesday. 

They will be in book entry form, with a maturity date of July 26, 2024. 

The amount to be auctioned is 625 million euros and the settlement date is this Friday.

The overdue debt owed by Greeks to the state and financial institutions - i.e. banks and funds - is more than the country's gross domestic product, reaching 224.2 billion euros.

The Greek banking sector will see this and next year a credit expansion of 4% per annum, per Eurobank Equities, ensuring resilience in interest income and profitability for Greek banks.

This is ahead of the imminent reduction of interest rates by the ECB, expected to start from the second quarter of this year.

Reducing the ratio of debt-to-gross domestic product at the fastest rate in Europe, achieving higher positions in the rating agencies' scales and further reducing the cost of servicing the country's borrowing, are the three main objectives set by the financial staff for the crucial issue of managing the Greek debt.

The European Commission has reiterated warnings concerning the significant challenges posed to the Cypriot economy from private debt, as it has done before in regular post-program or post-memorandum reports.

Bulgaria's Gross External Debt stood at approximately EUR 42,410 million by the end of October 2023, marking a 3.7% decrease from the same period in 2022, according to data released by the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB).

Greece retains the capacity to service its debt, noted the European Commission's third Post-Program Surveillance Report released on Thursday.

In nine years, when Greece enters 2033, it will be faced with a problem going back to its bailout past: The public debt will suddenly be burdened with an extra 25 billion euros, or 8% of the then GDP, as the interest on loans from 2013, which has been frozen for almost two decades as part of debt relief arrangements with its European lenders, will be added to it.

According to data from the union of loan and credit management companies (servicers), out of the total of 86 billion euros, the arrangements that have been made to date concern €25.5 billion and of these the arrangements that are being adhered to do not exceed €19 billion.