|
|
Athens News Agency: News in English, 10-08-07
CONTENTS
[01] EU-IMF on Greece's economic programme
[01] EU-IMF on Greece's economic programme
ANA-MPA/At the end of the first quarterly review of the Greek
government's economic programme on Thursday by staff teams from the
European Commission (EC), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), an EC, ECB and IMF statement said
the programme had made a "strong start" and that the way should now be
clear for the disbursement of the next installment of the 80 billion
euro loan agreed with the EU and the 30 billion euro Stand-By
Arrangement with the IMF.
EC, ECB and IMF staff teams have been in Athens since July 26.
The full statement released was as follows:
"Our overall assessment is that the programme has made a strong start.
The end-June quantitative performance criteria have all been met, led
by a vigorous implementation of the fiscal programme, and important
reforms are ahead of schedule. However, important challenges and risks
remain.
The contraction in the economy is in line with May programme
projections: GDP is expected to decline by 4 percent in 2010 and some
2.5 percent in 2011. Inflation is higher than expected-we have revised
our estimate for 2010 to 4.75 percent-pushed up by indirect tax
increases. With no signs of second-round effects, inflation is expected
to decline rapidly.
In the fiscal area, the authorities have kept spending significantly
below budget limits at the state level. This has offset slippages
caused by problems in controlling expenditures at the sub-national
level (local governments, hospitals, social security funds), and the
overall deficit target for end-June was met. Going forward, to address
potential risks to fiscal targets, it is critical to tighten
expenditure control and monitoring, in particular at sub-national
levels. Another key challenge is to further strengthen tax
administration, including to reduce tax evasion by high-income and
wealthy individuals. This is essential to secure tax revenues and to
promote the overall fairness of the adjustment program.
|