Mario Draghi Reiterates ECB Will Not Provide Further Bailouts to Greece

European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi reiterated on Thursday that the central bank would not participate in any further debt relief for Greece, arguing that such a move would be tantamount to financing the country directly.

“It is pretty clear that we cannot do monetary financing,” Draghi said, referring to the bank’s founding treaty which forbids direct financing.

International lenders estimate Greece could need up to 10 billion euros ($13.2 billion) more by September, as it struggles to plug a funding gap.

Draghi said it was up to the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers to decide on whether to extend the current aid program for Greece, and underlined that if they did so, then Greece must accept more conditionality clauses.

Draghi’s comments come after Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said earlier during the day that it was “realistic” to assume Greece will need additional money from the rest of the euro zone.

via CNBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza