The Governor of the Bank of Greece Yannis Stournaras stressed the need for “debt sustainability along with a more realistic final fiscal target after the end of the current program” in an interview for German newspaper Handelsblatt.
According to the central banker, new measures are needed to lighten the Greek debt burden, which could include extending the maturity of existing loans by a further 20 years.
Asked to comment on recent statements by Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble – namely that debt relief would discourage reform efforts in Greece – the Governor of the Bank of Greece responded “no, this is a rather extreme interpretation of moral hazard”.
The specification of debt relief measures he explained was necessary because the markets need to be clear on the sustainability of the debt before Greece returns to them and because both the IMF and ECB need this information to complete their debt sustainability reports.
