- Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker
Eurozone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund have agreed to release €44 billion in critical loans to debt-laden Greece, as well as providing the country with additional debt relief in order to help the country stabilize its ailing economy. After three weeks of negotiations, Greece's international lenders have come to compromise to take steps to reduce the country's debts, from an estimated 144%, to 124% of its gross domestic product by the end of 2020. Moreover, EU leaders pledged their readiness to help Greece to lower its debt to the levels, which are significantly below 110% in 2022.
"This has been a very difficult deal," Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters in Brussels after chairing a 13-hour meeting that ended early today. "All initiatives decided upon today will bring Greece's public debt clearly back on a sustainable path."
"This is not just about money. It is the promise of a better future for the Greek people and for the Euro area as a whole."
"The political will to reward the Greek austerity and reform measures has already been there for a while," economist Carsten Brzeski of ING said.
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