Greece is preparing to move ahead with an early repayment of €7 billion from loans tied to its first international bailout, with the payment expected as early as June this year. The announcement was made by Dimitris Tsakonas, head of the country’s Public Debt Management Agency, during the annual Euronext conference in Paris.
The move reflects Athens’ broader strategy to pay off the remaining loans from the Greek Loan Facility—a key component of the 2010 bailout—well ahead of schedule. Backed by cash reserves approaching €40 billion, the government aims to complete repayment up to ten years early, targeting full settlement by 2031.
The €7 billion payment will cover installments originally due between 2033 and 2041. It will also draw down what remains of a €15.7 billion financial buffer created in 2018 under the European Stability Mechanism, which Greece began tapping in 2024.
So far, Greece has repaid €26.6 billion of the €52.9 billion it borrowed under the facility, leaving €26.3 billion outstanding. That figure is expected to fall to around €19 billion by the end of 2026, with plans to eliminate the remainder through annual prepayments of roughly €5 billion over the following four years.
The early repayments are part of a broader effort to actively manage and reduce the country’s debt burden. By the end of 2025, Greece’s public debt had fallen to €362.8 billion, down from €364.95 billion a year earlier. The decline is notable not only as a share of economic output but also in absolute terms, signaling tangible progress in debt reduction.
Since September 2025, when debt stood at €367.85 billion, the total reduction has reached €5 billion, aided in part by another early repayment of bailout-related loans originally extended by eurozone countries in 2010.
While the average maturity of Greece’s debt has edged slightly lower to 18.37 years, borrowing costs remain exceptionally favorable. The average interest rate on government debt stands at just 1.33%, among the lowest in the European Union. This is largely due to the structure of Greece’s obligations to official lenders, including eurozone partners and European rescue funds, which account for about €230 billion in loans with long repayment horizons and very low interest rates.
Meanwhile, the country’s cash reserves have continued to grow, reaching €39.6 billion at the end of 2025, up from €36.8 billion a year earlier. When these reserves are taken into account, net government debt declines further to €323.22 billion.
However, broader measures of central government debt, which include liabilities within the public sector, rose to €406.18 billion by the end of 2025, compared to €402.2 billion the previous year.
