“Our estimation before the second (bailout) review was that QE (quantitative easing) was key in order to access the market, but it wasn’t true. The developments showed that it wasn’t a precondition,” Tsipras told CNBC, speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Athens.
Greece has tapped the international financial markets twice this year and saw significant interest from investors in both operations. Expectations are that Athens will conduct at least two more market operations before its current bailout is due to expire in August of next year.
“There’s no, for us, goal to access QE before the end of the program,” Tsipras added.
With the ECB slowly scaling back the level of its monthly purchases, it remains to be seen if Greece will end up featuring in the program. At the moment, the ECB has said that its monetary stimulus will remain until September of 2018, though it has left the door open for an extension.
