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Greece wants to exit its strict regime of post-bailout monitoring by European Union institutions in August, a largely symbolic move that would mark the official end of the decade-long crisis that engulfed the nation.
With the country aiming to regain investment grade for its bonds, there's consensus between the region's most indebted-state and its European creditors to conclude that program by the end of summer, according to officials familiar with the matter. Final decisions are expected in June, they said, asking not to be identified because discussions are confidential.
Greece's so-called “enhanced surveillance” regime -- enforced by European Commission officials in conjunction with the European Central Bank and the region's bailout fund -- followed the conclusion of its last bailout in 2018. Under its terms, the country benefits from debt-relief measures via regular aid payments, in exchange for meeting economic reform benchmarks.
The move would marks a milestone as the government seeks to reassure investors and rating agencies that the bad old days of the debt crisis are now a thing of the past, and attempts to regain investment-grade status. Any change probably wouldn't affect a waiver allowing the ECB to continue purchasing Greece's junk-rated bonds.
This week, Athens concluded the early repayment of emergency loans extended by the International Monetary Fund during the debt crisis. It's also paying back at an accelerated pace some of the bilateral loans agreed with European governments in 2010 under the first bailout deal.
The total value of all tranches of debt relief amounts to nearly 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion) under the terms of the current program. One of the scheduled aid tranches, which had been missed as an election campaign in 2019 disrupted a regular review of the economy by representatives of European creditors, could be disbursed in October, the officials said.
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