The Minister of Finances Yannis Stournaras appeared on SKAI Radio on Wednesday morning to announce that the negotiations for Greece’s debt reduction are scheduled to begin at the Eurogroup that will take place in early May, while the troika will return in the summer.
Mr. Stournaras claimed that his Ministry has completed most of its commitments to the troika and revealed that “we are almost ready to return to the markets”, hinting that it will occur after the European elections.
Meanwhile, the Minister dismissed SYRIZA’s claims that the government is preparing to introduce new taxes under the guise of a new bailout package after the upcoming European and local government elections. Mr. Stournaras explained that while “the troika asked for measure worth about 3 billion euros for 2014”, the primary surplus covered these demands.
The Finance Minister also rejected SYRIZA’s claims that the primary surplus was achieved due to accounting tricks and freezing pension payments, by claiming that two thirds of the surplus came from expense cuts and the rest from exceeding revenue goals. He also claimed that the surplus includes the State’s debts.
Regarding tax evasion, Mr. Stournaras accepted that there is still a serious problem of tax evasion and avoidance amongst the higher tax brackets, while arguing that there have been “significant changes” to tax administration.
