Greece could exit bail out programs by 2018!

According to the Greek government’s Vice-President Yannis Dragasakis, if agreement on Greece’s second programme review is successfully concluded with measures on debt, it creates the conditions for Greece to finally exit the bailout programmes in the summer of 2018.

Dragasakis made the optimistic comments on Monday at a conference on non-performing loans (NPL) whilst defending the government’s law on settling NPLs saying “you cannot speak of recovery with an indebted society”.

Commenting on the program review, he said: “The agreement on the second review, if it is concluded as expected with measures for the debt, creates the conditions for the country’s participation in the ECB’s quantitative easing program and a foray into the markets in 2017. It unlocks, that is, the procedures for the final end of the memoranda and the supervision in the summer of 2018.”

Asked about the relations between the government and bankers, he said “banks cannot exist without having a good relationship with the [any] government, but we do not begin with the concern who likes who.”

“This government does not have its own bankers and doesn’t want to have any,” he added.