After the troika rejected the latest Greek proposals, the coalition government is under immense pressure and has been asked to submit a new proposal for covering the 2015 budget gap.
The 19th of December, when the final Eurogroup session of the year is to take place, is the last opportunity to approve the precautionary credit line (the ECCL) or to extent the current program before the European parliaments and Commission shut down for the holidays.
The troika’s latest estimations suggest that the budget gap for 2015 will be about 3 billion euros, despite exempting the ENFIA tax payments from the controversial 100-installments settlement. The troika has demanded that asset and income criteria be introduced to the regulation, as well reducing the number of installments to 72.
On the contrary, sources from the Ministry of Finances argued that “there are limits to negotiations” and do not accept the troika estimations. Furthermore, it is suggested that the government does not intend to carry out any changes to the legislation, but it will carry out cuts in public utilities and local government.
With time running out though and uncertainty regarding an agreement, it appears that on Friday the coalition government will be submitting a budget without the troika’s approval for the second year in a row. The latest information suggests that the 2015 budget will provide a 1.8% GDP primary surplus for 2014 and a 3% rate for 2015.
