EuroWorking Group green lights early repayment of Greece's IMF loans

Representatives of eurozone member-states in the EuroWorking Group (EWG) on Thursday have approved Greece's request to repay earlier a portion of the bailout loans it has received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to Greek finance ministry sources.
The government had sent the proposal to the EWG and the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) last week.
The same sources, cited by state-run news agency ANA-MPA, said the procedure to repay the loans will be initiated in a similar fashion as it was done for Ireland and Portugal.
The repayment concerns about 3.7 billion euros of the "expensive" IMF loans which have an interest rate of 5.13 percent and are due in 2019 and 2020.
This move will save the Greek state about 150 million euros.