The head of the European Stability Mechanism Klaus Regling, who was recently in Athens, gave an interview for SKAI, where he estimated that the first Tsipras government, when Yanis Varoufakis was Finance Minister, had a cost of 100 billion euros for Greece.
Although Mr. Regling explained that there was no real scientific way to calculate the cost, he noted that the Bank of Greece has estimated that about 80 billion euros would be required. Based on the IMF’s from 2014 for growth in 2015 (2.5%) and 2016 (3.5%), the ESM chief argued that accumulatively the cost for Greece amounted to 6% of the GDP, which is about 100 billion euros.
In another interview published in the Thursday edition of Naftemporiki, Mr. Regling stated that the first intervention on the Greek debt will take place by the end of the year. Specifically he revealed that this will include sort-term measures that aim to reduce the interest rate risk, extend loan maturities and streamline loan payments.
