Five scenarios for Greek debt relief are reportedly being processed by a working group comprised of experts from the Eurogroup, the EU Commission, the ESM and the IMF, with the latter, by all accounts, pressing for the most clear-cut and wholesale solution, .i.e. a "haircut".
According to a Community source in Brussels, the five scenarios include:
- Transferring the profits generated by Greek bonds held by the ECB and other EZ central banks to the Greek state, a sum calculated at 10 billion euros.
- An early payoff of IMF loans through borrowing from the ESM by Greece, a scheme that would use, in part, capital left over from the recent recapitalization of banks in the country.
- Lowering interest rates on older loans and new ones, but without incurring losses for the ESM.
- Instituting a ceiling on amortization of up to 2 percent of annual GDP.
- A five-year extension of the payment period and a grace period for interest on an ESM-provided loan, which matures in 2022.
