French Minister praises Greek exit from memoranda, debt sustainable he says

France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire hailed Greece’s exit from the memoranda as a great success, in an interview on Sunday with To Vima newspaper.

“Greece’s exit from the third programme of financial aid is a great success. It is important for Greece that has met the commitments made in summer 2015 and managed, under the supervision of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, to reform in depth. It is also important for the Greek people that have made sacrifices and will now be able to see the results of these sacrifices. But also for Europe and the eurozone. It has been proved that solidarity is not only an essential value of Europe, but it is also something that is functional and efficient,” he said.

Le Maire also estimated that the Greek debt is sustainable and stressed the importance of growth rates.

On Friday the General Accounting Office published data which showed the central government debt had reached 345.3 billion euros at the end of June.

The State’s cash reserves stood at 13.08 billion euros, up from 12.32 billion euros at the end of March, the accounting office said. The debt is made up of bonds and short-term finance amounting to 68.13 billion euros and loans of 277.24 billion euros.