25.2.13
The Minister of Finances Giannis Stournaras will meet the three troika representatives Matthias Morse (EU), Klaus Masuch (ECB) and Poul Tomsen (IMF) on Sunday, 3rd of March at 10am. A “fast track” evaluation will take place the following week, although the toughest is to come in June.
The troika heads will meet with government executives who are undertaking important reform projects, such as the ministers of Administrative Reform, Labor, Growth and Health, as well as the president of the privatization fund (TAIPED) and the Governor of the Bank of Greece.
The March installment of 2.8 billion euros and the trimester installment of 6 billion euros are both at stake, which the government does not want to jeopardize. The troika report will focus on revenue, which is related to the progress in restructuring the tax-collection mechanism and combating tax evasion. Based on the third memorandum, deviations in revenue entail automatic budget cuts, however that does not appear to be of concern at the moment, but might be in June. Mr. Stournaras will present a study on inefficient taxes, such as the food VAT and the special consumption taxes, in order to discuss a possible reduction of rates.
The troika will also focus on privatizations, which are meant to generate 2.5 billion euros in 2013. The cases of OPAP and DEPA-DESFA are important, to not only avoid the aforementioned automatic budget cuts, but to also avoid the IMF suggestion of replacing TAIPED management with foreign experts. The troika is also expected to pressure the government to absorb NSRF funding.
Regarding civil servants, Commissioner Rehn is adamant that immediate lay offs are not required, giving the relevant ministers some breathing space; the current plan is to evaluate employees in the public sector in order to achieve the goal of 25,000 departures. Despite some progress though, an IMF demand for lay offs cannot be discounted, as was the case in autumn 2012.
