Earlier today, Greece used up virtually its entire €7.1 billion bridge loan from the EU to repay its creditors: between the money due to the ECB, the arrears to the IMF and the cash borrowed from the Greek central bank, Athens had about €300 million left over from the entire inbound wire to use as it sees fit just hours after the money was received, and then promptly sent right back.
Or, as some put it, Greece collected a 4% transaction fee for facilitating a €6.8 billion payment from its creditors to its creditors.
So does this mean things are "fixed" in Greece, if only temporarily? Not exactly, as the following table shows [5], there is exactly one month until the next €3.2 billion payment is due to the ECB. So unless Europe finalizes the terms of the third €86 billion EFSF bailout in the next 4 weeks, Greece will need another bridge loan just to repay the ECB.
[6]
Ok, but if Greece somehow survives until the end of 2015 despite a new government and with blistering VAT hikes, even as bank lines to withdraw money refuse to go away, then will it finally be ok?
Well, no.
As we showed before when we showed the various Greek circle of debt hell, [7] unless Greece finds a way to access the market once again following its "triumphal return" in mid-2014 when it issued bonds that cost investors (with other people's money) their 2015 bonus, it is only then that the Greek debt repayment hell begins.
[8]
Oh, and the table above excludes the €86 billion in new debt that will be incurred as part of Bailout #3 and which too, will have to be "repaid" at some point, if only in theory.
