Reform Key to Smooth Greek Market Return

Greece can expect further debt relief from its official creditors but must show it is building an efficiently-run modern economy to convince markets of its rehabilitation, the head of Europe’s rescue fund said, Reuters reported. Athens is on course to exit its €86 billion ($106 billion) bailout, its third since 2010, this summer without further financial assistance from official lenders and the government is keen for a “clean exit”. Greece’s €185 billion economy is slowly recovering from its debt crisis and subsequent recession and is forecast to grow by 2.5% this year and in 2019. The government is gradually building a cash buffer of about €18 billion. Athens and its eurozone lenders are expected to flesh out a French-proposed mechanism presented in June, which will link debt relief to Greek growth rates. “We all agree that Greece’s debt needs to be manageable. But additional debt relief is not the most important thing to achieve that,” European Stability Mechanism Chief Klaus Regling told a conference in Delphi, outside Athens.