The tranche will be disbursed within 30 days

Yannis Stournaras’ appearance at the board of Eurozone finance ministers in Brussels, where he will go with two voted bills for the mid-term and the state budget of 2013, is expected to be a relief for some and a surprise to many others.

 

Although many "bitter friends" of our country expected or had placed bets on the failure of this endeavor at the beginning of the negotiations with the Troika after the June elections, Greece now appears to have done its duty, expecting its European partners and the IMF to do likewise. But nothing justifies the optimism stemming from the statements of Greek officials as to the timely payment of the tranche, not so much because some of its European partners want to back down, but mainly because so much time has been lost due to various setbacks and postponements that the lenders have no reason to cover it in a hurry.

 

In any case, the tranches will come as tranches but with a gap of a few days or weeks. And this is not surprising if one considers that a large portion of the money is intended to recapitalize the banks and will be given in the form of guarantees.

 

Another portion of the loans is for previous installments (March and June) and another for September, governed by a different legal status. Other parts will be given for the redemption of bonds held by the ECB or for accumulated debts to the domestic private sector, in which the Troika is mostly interested, while others are for the simple refinancing of treasury bills or towards the current payroll of civil servants, which are not the main concern of the lenders.

 

However, the mere fact that the government decided to borrow in 4-month treasury bills shows that it expects that the money will come even one month from today. Until then it will be in a tight spot as it will have to cope with the money it collects from taxes and by freezing almost all expenditures that it will be able to delay.