Greece has a tricky decision to make that could see market repercussions

Francois Lenoir | Reuters

Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos attends a eurozone finance ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium May 22, 2017.

Greece and Europe both want to see the former exit its bailout program as scheduled in August. But that brings about a difficult decision on how that should take place.

Some analysts and policymakers argue that Greece should ask for a precautionary credit line — a buffer of money that Athens could use in case of an emergency — and thus make a smooth transition to the markets after nearly a decade of international financial aid.

But Athens has vehemently denied all calls to ask for such a safety net – come August, it wants to show that Greece has put its financial crisis behind it and is independent again, without international assistance.

Greece is seeking a clean exit from the bailout, meaning no tight monitoring from institutions such as the European Commission after August, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos told the Financial Times on Sunday.

“As long as its credit ratings are below investment grade, Greece will have to remain under an economic program in order to maintain access to the European Central Bank funding,” Yvan Mamalet, senior euro economist at Societe Generale, told CNBC via email.

The ECB is restricted from buying Greek government bonds as none of the ratings agencies currently assess these with an investment grade.

“For this reason, we think it would make sense for Greece to request a precautionary credit line. On top of that, this would allow the Greek government to pursue a limited return to market access,” Mamalet said.