BRUSSELS (Sputnik) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF), one of Greece’s main lenders, is expected to contribute funds to the third bailout package for Greece in October, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said after the Friday Eurogroup meeting.
The meeting led to the approval of an €86 billion ($93 billion) bailout package aimed at rebuilding Greece's economy, provided that Athens follows through on its reform commitments.
Schaeuble told reporters that he was confident that Eurozone ministers would agree on a “common approach to Greek debt sustainability” in October, which would lead to the IMF joining the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) in providing Greece with funds.
“I do not expect that the ESM will disperse 86 billion euro,” Regling told reporters adding that “we expect that the IMF will eventually come in.”
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker stressed on Friday that the IMF’s participation in the third bailout is crucial for the Eurogroup.
On July 13, eurozone leaders agreed on a new bailout plan for Athens that would guarantee the country some $93 billion over the next three years in exchange for strict austerity measures.
Under the new aid package, Greece will receive the first tranche of €26 billion in two payments. The first sub-tranche of 10 billion will be made available immediately, while the second sub-tranche of €16 billion will be disbursed to Greece in several instalments, starting with a first disbursement of €13 billion by August 20, which is when Greece is due to make a €3.4 billion ($3.8 billion) repayment to the European Central Bank (ECB), one of its major international money lenders.
Under two previous bailout programs, the last of which expired on June 30th, Greece received about $270 billion from its main lenders, which include the Eurozone countries, the IMF and the ECB.
