ATHENS – Almost four years after the end of three international bailouts of 326 billion euros ($342.89 billion) that came with harsh austerity measures, Greece’s international lenders have stopped their tracking of the economy.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis applauded the end of the so-called enhanced surveillance that was designed to make sure that successive governments were meeting fiscal targets to avoid triggering spending cuts.

The decision was made by the Eurogroup, an informal body that brings together ministers from countries using the euro as a currency, Greece having gotten rescue packages from the Troika of the European Union-European Central Bank-European Stability Mechanism (EU-ECB-ESM) and the Washington, D.C.-based International Monetary Fund (IMF.)

Eurozone finance ministers accepted a recommendation by the European Commission, based on its 14th enhanced surveillance report, stating that the country has “successfully delivered the bulk” of its policy commitments.

Mitsotakis responded that, “Greece and the Greeks are welcoming, today, an important national success: our economy is now liberated from the regime of enhanced surveillance, with Eurogroup’s seal. This closes a painful cycle that opened 12 years ago,” said Kathimerini.

He added that, “A new era of autonomous choices opens for the development of the country and the well-being of its citizens. Thus, after the lifting of capital restrictions and the repayment of IMF loans, the third goal set by the government from the beginning is achieved: the recovery of the (country’s) investment grade that unlocks even more opportunities for prosperity for all.”