At Thursday’s Euro Working Group in Brussels, where the 6.3 billion euro loan installment will be approved, Greece is expected to initiate discussions for a restructure of its debt.
Greece will refer to the Eurogroup of November 2012, when it was decided that should Greece achieve a primary surplus and fully implement the terms of its bailout program, then the other Eurozone members will consider taking measures towards reducing the Greek debt.
The timing is no coincidence, since Eurostat will announce Greece’s 2013 primary surplus on Wednesday, which is expected to be about 3.4 billion euros, while the troika’s calculations will be about 1.5 billion euros. Meanwhile, it will also be confirmed that Greece has a 92% compliance rate to the bailout program.
On Tuesday the Minister of Finances Yannis Stournaras discussed the main points of the Greek growth plan with the Minister of Growth Kostis Hatzidakis, the PM’s close associate Chrysanthos Lazaridis and PASOK’s Philippos Sahinidis.
Mr. Stournaras coordinated with the President of the Council of Economic Advisors Panos Tsakloglou in preparation of the EWG meeting in Brussels. The Ministry of Finances’ strategy seems to be to clarify technical details, before – politically – making any requests.
