Greece approaches debt crunch point

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras needs European creditors to release a third tranche of cash from the latest bailout – which is effectively frozen – in order to repay €22.8 billion of debt due by the end of August

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Government debt as proportion of gross domestic product (GDP)

%
200
180
160
140
120
100
80 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

107.4%

FIRST BAILOUT May 2010 €110 billion

170.3%

SECOND BAILOUT Feb 2012 €130 billion

180.1%

Jan 2015: Alexis Tsipras becomes prime minister

THIRD BAILOUT Aug 2015 €86 billion

€26bn Aug 2015: 1st tranche released

€10.3bn May 2016: 2nd tranche released

179.7% €329bn

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Christine Lagarde: International Monetary Fund Managing Director favours reduction in Greece’s debt load

Wolfgang Schaeuble: German Finance Minister categorically rules out any debt relief

Alexis Tsipras: Refuses demands for more cuts – equal to 2% of GDP or €3.6bn – without debt relief

Greek bond principal repayments in 2017 (€ billions)

Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
1.4 4.6 3.8 1.4 2.0 8.2 1.4

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Sources: Eurostat, World Bank, Bloomberg 

Pictures: Associated Press 

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