Calamos Supports Greece
GreekReporter.comGreek NewsEconomyStournaras Says Banks Safe, Troika Talks Linger

Stournaras Says Banks Safe, Troika Talks Linger

He's a noted economist, but Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras is having trouble balancing Greece's booksWith the apparent abandonment of a plan to allow the National Bank of Greece and Eurobank to merge after international lenders raised objections and the banks couldn’t raise enough capital, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras reassured Greeks their deposits were safe.
But he said that negotiations with the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) over a series of reforms were taking longer than expected and he wasn’t sure when they would finish. The delay is holding up release of a 2.8 billion euros ($3.8 billion) installment due in March.
“Deposits are absolutely secure,” he told journalists after a meeting with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to assess the state of negotiations with the Troika that were pushed back until April 9.
The biggest obstacle for now is the stumbling block over the Troika’s insistence the government fire 25,000 public workers, a political problem for Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who countered that the numbers could be reduced enough by dismissing up to 8,000 workers with a range of disciplinary problems.
The Troika reportedly agreed that the government could hire 1,000 new workers if it fires 1,000 although there was no explanation how that woul save money, the goal of the firing plan. Stournaras said there would be no further austerity measures such as cuts to pensions and salaries.
He was anxious to have reached a conclusion by April 12 when an informal meeting of Eurozone finance ministers will be held in Dublin to examine progress on the long-stalled Greek reforms.
There was reported progress on a plan to let Greeks pay off tax debts to the state which are in deep arrears because pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions have forced a 55 billion euros ($71.56 billion) backlog because people can’t afford to pay.
The government also wants to try to reduce as much as it can a doubled emergency property tax that was imposed in 2011 and was supposed to be for one year only but is continuing.

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!



Related Posts