The International Monetary Fund keeps surprising with its generosity. Recently, the IMF agreed to give Ukraine an aid package, and now the Fund approved another loan for Greece. A new tranche of 1.6 billion euros will become yet another portion of cherished financial aid for Greece.
Greece’s credit epoch has already been going on for several years. It seems the Greeks tried everything they could, including threats to exit the European Union, to get the money. But the Fund was unwavering until Christine Lagarde gave a quite high estimate of the work done by the Mediterranean country. It is a usual practice for the IMF to wait for some real actions before granting a loan. The Greek authorities showed a considerable progress in political reform implementation, while keeping the country’s credit dependence within the limits. Lagarde pointed to clear steps towards easing the debt burden.
Still, Greece has only started its way to financial independence. Currently the country is unable to return to debt capital markets on its own without concessional financing or debt restructuring. So this tranche will not be the last for Greece as the European Group said it would keep supporting Athens.
