Statement by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde on Greece

IMF News, June 22, 2018

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Canonical URL: Statement by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde on Greece

Date: June 21, 2018
Press Release No. 18/252
Key message: Commends Greece and its European partners on the completion of the fourth and final review under the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) program.
Core outcome highlighted: "The additional debt relief measures announced today will mitigate Greece’s medium-term refinancing risks and improve its medium-term debt prospects."

Findings and assessments:
- Completion of the fourth and final review under the ESM program.
- Additional debt relief measures will mitigate Greece’s medium-term refinancing risks.
- Additional debt relief measures will improve Greece’s medium-term debt prospects.
- These results are described as "very welcome" and characterized as beneficial for both Greece and the euro area.
Safeguards and conditionality:
- The IMF "take[s] note of the commitment by Greece’s European partners to keep debt sustainability under review and to take additional debt relief measures if needed."
- Such additional measures "would provide important safeguards if the more optimistic long-run macroeconomic assumptions of the European institutions were not realized."

Planned IMF actions:
- The IMF "will examine the sustainability of Greece’s debt in the course of our upcoming Article IV Consultation with Greece, which starts next week."
- The IMF notes that "time has clearly run out to enter into a Stand-by Arrangement."
- The IMF will "remain fully engaged in supporting Greece in sustaining its economic recovery and achieving more robust growth in the post-program period."
- IMF engagement will include post-program monitoring, with precedent in "other similar cases, notably Cyprus, Ireland and Portugal."

Statement by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde on Greece — June 21, 2018