According to a report published by German financial daily Handelsblatt, Schaeuble’s finance ministry has, in an internal position paper calculated that interest deferrals on Greek loans will amount to €120 billion by 2040. These new calculations reinforced German government’s opposition to any further debt reduction or interest deferral for Greece, Handelsblatt claims.
The paper concludes that “by 2040, the current volume of deferred interest payments will amount to around €120 billion ($130 billion). Deferrals on this scale would amount to substantial new loans.”
The Greek government is currently pressing its creditors to further ease its repayment terms. The German finance ministry document insists that agreed reform measures and primary surplus goals must be maintained.
Schaeuble is expected to attend the IMF Spring Meeting in Washington in April. The Greek crisis would be negotiated again, , “behind closed doors,”notes Handelsblatt and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde would press for Greek debt relief, which the German finance minister opposes.
The German chancellor has also said to have expressed her view that a further extension of the loan repayment period is needed, but not a ceiling on interest rates. However, she noted that, “before embarking on discussions about debt relief, (Greece) needs to complete the second evaluation of the programme”, something that the German government for internal political reasons has been delaying.
