Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has hailed Greece’s early repayment of the last instalment of its bailout loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In a Tweet on Tuesday, Mitsotakis said the repayment was the “end of an era… that Greeks should not and will never live again.”
“The government… closes a bleak chapter that opened in March 2010,” Mitsotakis added, referring to the date of the Greek debt restructuring and the start of a string of bailout loans from the eurozone and the IMF, totalling 280 billion euros.
Mitsotakis’ post on Twitter came after Greek Finance Minister, Christos Staikouras, announced on Monday that Greece “concluded the repayment of its debts to the IMF.”
Staikouras hailed the early payment as “a very positive development” that would mean significant savings in debt servicing costs totalling 230 million euros.
READ MORE: Greece completes early repayment of bailout loans to IMF.
Between 2010 and 2018, three successive bailouts totalling some 260 billion euros prevented Greece from going bankrupt and exiting the shared euro currency.
Despite exiting the bailout program in 2018, Greece remains under an enhanced surveillance program created by European lenders to monitor spending, an arrangement due to end later this year.
READ MORE: European Union approves early repayment plan of Greek bailout loans to IMF.
Source: Ekathimerini.