European Commission: First the enactment of the multi-bill, then the disbursement of the tranche

Eurogroup expects the adoption of the multi-bill by the Greek parliament to officially close the fourth assessment of the Greek program and approve the disbursement of the next tranche, a senior Eurozone official said today from Brussels.
 
As he explained, the aim is to have a political agreement for the closure of the evaluation in the Eurogroup in Athens on April 1st, and the final decision for the disbursement will be taken during the second fortnight of April.
 
Regarding the disbursement of the tranche, he said the bigger part will take place before the middle of May, so that Greece can service its debt obligations, and will be followed by one or two tranches, probably in June and July. The three tranches will be of 10 billion euros in total, the first one will be released in May will be the most important, but the release will be related to the fulfillment of prerequisite actions, he added.
 
He also said that after the announcement of Eurostat on April 23rd on the budgetary situation of Greece and other Eurozone countries, it will become clear whether there actually is a primary surplus in Greece. Then will begin the debate on the Greek debt relief under the commitment Eurozone has already taken in November 2012. He also suggested that the discussion at a ministerial level will require at least two Eurogroup meetings.
 
Regarding a possible financing gap in the program, the Eurozone official said that Greece is already benefiting from highly favorable adjustments to its interest rates, the maturing of loans and the grace period and any decision about the future financial needs of Greece is a matter of the Greek Authorities.
 
Concluding, he said that there will be no problem if the IMF requests an assurance from its European partners for the sustainability of the Greek debt.