Greece will proceed with the early repayment of bailout loans totaling 8 billion euros, the prime minister told Bloomberg in an interview. These are three-year instalments, and it is the third time Athens has repaid early loans it received under the first bailout package in 2010.

As Bloomberg notes, it will be the first time these repayments will make such a difference to the so-called Greek Loan Facility.

"We have done a lot since we were re-elected," Kyriakos Mitsotakis said. "In terms of market transactions, they have probably exceeded expectations."

Bloomberg described the early repayment of the 2026–2028 tranches as a signal of confidence from Athens around the ongoing recovery of the Greek economy.

Although the government has revised its 2024 growth target to 2.5% from 2.9%, Greece is performing much better than the European Union average.

"There was a real appetite for Greek investment. The market seemed to believe the story about our long-term target and also believes that this government is stable and is here to stay for the long term," the prime minister noted in an interview with Bloomberg.

STILL WORK TO DO

The US news agency noted that under Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greece has regained its investment grade rating but still has a lot of work to do. Debt as a percentage of GDP remains one of the highest in Europe, although it is expected to fall to 152.7% this year from a high of 207% of GDP in 2020.

Indeed, debt was also reduced in nominal terms in 2023 and, according to the prime minister, is expected to fall again this year.