Economou: Troika talks almost complete
The government has nearly completed negotiations with representatives of its international creditors and managed to get around their demand for 30,000 public sector layoffs through the labor reserve system, Deputy Finance Minister Pantelis Economou stated on Monday morning.
Speaking on Mega TV, Economou stated that talks are almost complete ahead of the disbursement of the sixth tranche of loans to Athens. The troika has two more visits to make to the state’s General Accounting Office and the mission?s work will have been completed by Wednesday, he suggested.
He added that the government had managed to persuade the European Union and International Monetary Fund inspectors that it has missed its budget targets owing to the deeper-than-anticipated recession, which is set to end the year at around 5 percent.
“To the extent that they were convinced that… the recession is indeed deeper, I think that we have figured things out,» Economou said. Asked whether negotiations have come to a successful conclusion, he said, «I believe we have essentially concluded… we have covered all the main topics.» He expected the troika to start writing its report on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, Reuters had earlier cited sources close to the troika suggesting that its visit was expected to last well into this week.
Economou also stressed that the troika had insisted on the lightening the public sector by 30,000 employees, but the government managed to avoid such a measure by promoting the so-called labor standby system.
The question now centers on whether the 2011 deficit will exceed the revised estimate of 8.5 percent of gross domestic product and climb to 9 percent, as both the troika and Finance Ministry officials seem to fear. Such a development would require yet more measures by the government in the new year.
Greece is in desperate need for the 8-billion-euro tranche to avoid a default. The eurozone?s finance ministers will discuss the troika?s report on October 13 and are likely to issue their approval for the disbursement of the sixth installment.
