Greece’s European creditors are trying to work out a solution for the evaluation of the bailout program amid disagreements with the International Monetary Fund.
The European institutions — The European Commission, European Stability Mechanism and European Central Bank — are trying to expedite the first review of Greece’s bailout program. However, the IMF disagrees on budgetary issues and points out significant fiscal gaps.
A dinner was held on Wednesday night in Brussels at the initiative of the President of the Euro Working Group Thomas Wieser. IMF chief of the European Division Poul Thomsen and IMF team leader for Greece Delia Velculescu met with ECB head of the team for Greece Rasmus Refer, ECB deputy chairman Benoit Coeure and EC representative Declan Costello.
The main objective of the European side is to close the gap between the IMF and Europe on Greece’s 2018 budget. The EC believes that Greece should implement measures of around 3% of GDP, or approximately 5 billion euros for the 2016 – 2019 period. The IMF estimates that Greece needs measures amounting to 5% of GDP or approximately 8.9 billion euros if the state debt is to become sustainable.
According to sources from Brussels, the debate lasted until late at night. Lenders’ representatives said that a lot of contacts should be made on a political level before Monday’s Eurogroup.
The same sources claim that the EC, ESM and ECB will try to “freeze” the role of the IMF until the evaluation so that it is completed soon. In this case, the fund will monitor the evaluation as technical adviser but will not intervene asking for fiscal measures that would delay the process.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
