As part of a quarterly assessment of the European market, the European Commission will be releasing its forecast for growth and macro-economic performance. Greece’s growth forecast for this year is revised to around 2%, down from 2.7% previously an Eu official said today.
The revision is likely to increase pressure on Greek politicians to adopt a reform deal reached at staff level with euro zone lenders this week, while the country is in need of financial aid to pay debts due in July.
The official said the downward revision was mostly due to uncertainty caused by delays in concluding a new review of Greek reforms under a €86 billion bailout programme.
If Greece implements the agreed reforms on tax hikes, pension, labor and energy markets, it could make it possible for lenders to agree to debt relief measures after the bailout programme ends in 2018.
It is hoped that eurozone ministers will reach a political deal on May 22 as this could almost be the last chance for Greece to avoid a default.
The EU official also commented that despite the revision of 2017 growth — yet to be finalized — the Greek economy is performing well and had reached a primary surplus last year, before debt servicing costs, well above targets.
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