The Deputy Minister of Finances Christos Staikouras has challenged the troika representative demands for new measures, by referring to Eurostat’s divs and methodology, which suggest that the general government’s deficit will be less that 3% in 2013.
Mr. Staikouras claims that the 2-billion-euro profit returns from European banks and the 500-million-euro share paid by the Bank of Greece. Contrary to Eurostat though, the troika refuses to accept the inclusion of these sums in the calculation of the deficit, since they are “one-offs” and had not been expected.
While this matter is expected to prompt further negotiations between the Ministry of Finances and creditors, the troika representatives have been pressuring for one or tow “hard measures” such as pension or wage cuts, in order to ensure the implementation of a “strong budget for 2014” that will achieve targets of the program.
The troika representatives argue that these new measures will be necessary in order to cover gap in the 2014 gap that is caused by an estimated 1.5 billion euro deficit in the insurance funds.
