Greece's entire schedule of emergency loans from the EU and IMF is being pushed back by three months because of a delay in the pay-out of a tranche in 2011, the European Commission says.
The next €5 billion tranche for Greece that was originally scheduled to be paid in December 2011 is now to be paid out in March 2012, Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly said.
A further €10 billion that Greece was originally to receive in March this year will now be paid only in June. He said all of those sums can also be delayed if inspectors think Greece is failing to deliver promised fiscal reforms.
"That cannot be changed," Bailly said, referring to the three-month rhythm in paying out tranches of the first Greek rescue programme.
Last year, Athens repeatedly said it faced the risk of defaulting if the EU and IMF did not pay out scheduled tranches. Europe's political leaders have made it clear that as long as Greece meets criteria on reforms, it will be financed as necessary by the EU and IMF, but investors with money in Greek bonds are watching its cashflow closely.
The pay-outs are part of the aid that Athens has been promised under a €110 billion joint EU/IMF financing programme in 2010 in exchange for fiscal austerity and structural reforms that are to make public finances of the highly indebted country sustainable. Out of the total, €73 billion have already been paid, and €37 billion remain.
The delay in the pay-out of the money last year, which meant €8 billion from September were paid out only in December, was caused by Greece's failure to keep up with its commitments to implement austerity and structural reforms.
Bailly said that if Greece fails to meet the aid conditions again, more delays in pay-outs would follow. A team of EU and IMF inspectors will visit Greece on January 14-16 to verify reform progress.
"If our mission in mid-January concludes that there is a delay in progress, we would have to review March (payment due then)," Bailly said.
Euro zone leaders agreed on a second, €130 billion financing programme for Greece in October to maintain the country's access to emergency financing for longer after initial expectations that Athens would be able to return to markets in March 2012 proved optimistic.
But details of the second programme, which includes a 50% haircut on Greek bonds held by private investors, are still under negotiation.
