Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-04-19

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Tsipras met with key ministers ahead of IMF Spring Meetings

[02] Greece to achieve 3.3 pct primary surplus in 2016, says IMF

[03] Defence minister slams FIR violations by Turkish fighter jets 'on a day of mourning'

[01] Tsipras met with key ministers ahead of IMF Spring Meetings

Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, Economy Minister Dimitri Papadimitriou, Labour Minister Efi Achtsioglou, Government VP Yiannis Dragasakis and Alternate Finance Minister George Chouliarakis participated in the meeting.

Tsakalotos, Papadimitriou and Chouliarakis will be in Washington DC on Thursday where they will hold preliminary talks on Greece's debt load, on the sidelines of the Spring Meetings.

[02] Greece to achieve 3.3 pct primary surplus in 2016, says IMF

However, in 2017 the primary surplus will decrease to 1.7 percent of GDP, slightly below a target of 1.75 percent for this year set out in the country's bailout program.

The report also said the country will not meet its primary surplus target of 3.5 percent in 2018, and is expected instead to achieve a 2 percent of GDP (revised from an initial forecast for 1.5 pct last October). From 2019 to 2022, the Greek budget will record surpluses of just 1.5 percent, it added.

Concerning Greek pubic debt, the IMF report foresees it will continue to rise up until 2018, when it is expected to reach 181.5 percent of GDP, from 180.7 percent in 2017, lower than the initial forecast last October for 2017 for 184.7 percent of GDP.

In 2016, debt is expected to have reached 181.3 percent of GDP. The debt is forecast to start declining from 2019 to 174.3 percent to reach 162.8 percent of GDP in 2022.

The Fund stressed that these forecasts presuppose the full and rigorous implementation of the European Stability Mechanism's adjustment program by Greece. It also said the estimations are based on preliminary data recorded on February 15 and may be revised after the final figures that will be published by Eurostat on April 21.

[03] Defence minister slams FIR violations by Turkish fighter jets 'on a day of mourning'

"The violations on a day of mourning for the Greek Armed Forces for the sacrifice of four officers today and one soldier yesterday show the quality of the Turks," he tweeted.

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