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GreekReporter.comGreek NewsEconomyCreditors Return to Greece Bringing Measures Worth €8 Bln

Creditors Return to Greece Bringing Measures Worth €8 Bln

troikaThe mission chiefs of the European Commission, European Central Bank, European Stability Mechanism and International Monetary Fund returned to Athens on Tuesday to continue talks on the bailout review.
As Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos has said while in Washington for the IMF Spring Meetings, an additional package of fiscal measures worth 2.7 billion euros will have to be added to the 5.4 billion Greece has proposed.
The Greek government argues that the additional measures are precautionary and will be implemented only if the already proposed figures do not add up to meet fiscal targets. Also, the measures will be taken only if creditors offer some debt relief.
The 2.7-billion-euro package includes the following proposed measures:
Cuts in wages in the public sector, with emphasis on quotas and low-skilled workers.
VAT increase on electricity and water bills from 13 percent to 24 percent
Cuts in main pensions
Liberation of mass layoff clauses
Freeze in public sector hiring
Abolition of 6 percent VAT on medicines, books, theater tickets.
Lenders, however, argue that these measures will not have to be taken if Greece can manage a primary surplus of 3.5 percent of GDP in 2018 based on the package of 5.4 billion euros the two sides had focused on in previous weeks.
Initially, the Greek government was hoping that the review would have been completed by Friday, the day the meeting of euro zone finance ministers is scheduled.
However, the Greek finance minister said that negotiations will probably conclude a little later, with an extraordinary Eurogroup meeting to be held April 25 or 26.

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