Thursday, March 28, 2024
 
 

IMF to close Athens office, as Greek economy steadily recovers

EPA-EFE/Stephen Jaffe HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES
A handout photo made available by the IMF shows International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva (R) welcoming Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (L) prior to their bilateral meeting at the IMF Headquarters in Washington, DC, 07 January 2020. 

- Advertisement -

The International Monetary Fund that assisted Greece throughout its international bailout process will close its Athens office in the coming months, Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Tuesday, after meeting with IMF Chief, Kristalina Georgieva, at IMF’s headquarters in Washington.
The Greek PM welcomed the decision adding that Greece would “continue to cooperate as a country that has emerged from the austere framework of supervision by the IMF.”
Greece completed its third bailout program in August 2018 and continues to advance its recovery under the governance of Mitsotakis and his party New Democracy that won an absolute majority in July’s elections.
“The relationship with the Fund has not always been easy, but I think we agree on some important issues, such as the need to reduce primary surpluses in 2021,” Mitsotakis said, calling European lenders to ease budget surplus targets set during the 2015 bailout.
Georgieva tweeted that IMF pledges to “continue to support Greece in its endeavour to improve growth, increase competitiveness, and further reduce unemployment and poverty”.
Greece’s fiscal process is still being monitored by the euro zone and the IMF, from which, Greek governments borrowed more than €290 billion in emergency loans during the multi-year debt crisis.
 
 
 

- Advertisement -

Subscribe to our newsletter

Latest

U.S. condemns latest PRC actions in South China Sea as dangerous

Coming just days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony...

With Sweden now a NATO member, what’s next?

Sweden completed the necessary diplomatic formalities on March 7,...

Inaugural B5+1 Forum launched to boost regional trade and investment

On March 13-15, government policymakers, business leaders, experts, and...

U.S. zeroes in on Houthi revenue sources

The U.S. Government made several announcements this month regarding...

Don't miss

U.S. condemns latest PRC actions in South China Sea as dangerous

Coming just days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony...

With Sweden now a NATO member, what’s next?

Sweden completed the necessary diplomatic formalities on March 7,...

Inaugural B5+1 Forum launched to boost regional trade and investment

On March 13-15, government policymakers, business leaders, experts, and...

U.S. zeroes in on Houthi revenue sources

The U.S. Government made several announcements this month regarding...

EU adopts safeguards on general purpose artificial intelligence

The European Parliament took an important step in regulating...

With Sweden now a NATO member, what’s next?

Sweden completed the necessary diplomatic formalities on March 7, depositing its instrument of accession with the U.S. State Department in Washington, which manages the...

Intellexa Commercial Spyware Consortium sanctioned

The U.S. Government announced on March 5 a new set of sanctions on the members of the Intellexa Commercial Spyware Consortium based across Europe....

Alexandroupolis LNG Terminal going live after test runs

The Gastrade consortium confirmed on February 18 the long anticipated Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminal at Alexandroupolis in Greece’s province of Thrace has received...

Playing politics with EU veto power – a very old game

In late November, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, standing alongside visiting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, told the media that he was against the “bilateralization”...

Shockwaves from the Gaza War begin impacting the global economy

In this era of globalization almost any regional crisis can be expected to trigger defensive strategies on the part of major companies and investors....

Zelensky Athens visit eclipses Mitsotakis’ informal Western Balkans Summit

Receiving a full house of Western Balkan leaders, as well as several EU luminaries, in Athens on an evening when much of northern Greece...

Back to Business: Greek conservatives rout socialist opposition parties in second round elections

Delivering an undeniable demonstration of Greece’s current focus on stability and the need to generate continued economic growth, the June 25 election produced the...

Strange goings on in Northern Greece seem to worry Ankara

Government-linked Turkish media have indicated concern about a series of visits and events in Greece’s Evros prefecture -- the Greek-Turkish border region -- which...