Greece has drawn up plans to repay approximately €13 billion of public debt ahead of schedule this year, aiming to reduce its debt as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) below that of Italy by the end of 2026, according to a person familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg.
The planned repayments include about €2.5 billion in loans from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), a €2.2 billion bond maturing in 2027 and a €1.2 billion reduction in the stock of Treasury bills by December 31, 2026.
No final decision has yet been taken.
Officials at the Ministry of National Economy and Finance said the early repayments would send a signal of prudence to European institutions, rating agencies and international investors.
They noted that the move would further lower Greece’s already reduced annual gross financing needs after 2032.
Officials added that early repayments of certain loans would continue in subsequent years, with the aim of completing repayment by 2031 rather than the original schedule of 2041. Some €20 billion remains outstanding under the Greek Loan Facility (GLF), the bilateral lending of €52.9 billion from 14 eurozone countries behind the 2010 bailout, according to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).
The initiative follows a similar early repayment of €5.29 billion under the same facility on December 15, 2025 and one of €6.94 billion in June 2026. The ESM and the EFSF waived Greece’s obligation to make matching repayments on their own loans.
That step helped bring yields on Greek 10-year bonds below those of Italy, France and the United Kingdom at the time. They have stayed about 10 basis points below Italian equivalents, according to Dnews.
According to ministry estimates, every €1 billion of early repayment generates roughly €30 million in interest savings under current borrowing costs, or about €360 million for the full package.
Over a seven-year horizon the planned €13 billion package is expected to deliver savings exceeding €2 billion. Officials put Greece’s early loan repayments between 2019 and 2025 at about €36 billion.
Greece’s debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to fall to around 137 per cent this year, from 146.1 per cent at the end of 2025 and 154.2 per cent in 2024, with the stock of debt set to drop to about €357.5 billion, according to the Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA). Sustained primary budget surpluses and high cash reserves have enabled Athens to accelerate debt reduction while maintaining market confidence.
The primary surplus reached 4.9 per cent of GDP in 2025 and cash reserves stood at €39.6 billion in December 2025.
The European Commission’s spring 2026 forecast has Italy’s ratio rising to 138.5 per cent in 2026 and Greece’s falling to 134.4 per cent only by 2027, a year later than Athens intends. Greek national economy and finance minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis said in December 2025 that the aim was for Greece to stop being Europe’s most indebted country.
