FinMin Denies Reports of More Austerity Measures
Greece's finance ministry refuted on Saturday media reports about 7.7 billion euros worth of new measures, new taxes or further cuts in wages and pensions, the Athens News Agency-Macedonian Press Agency (ANA-MPA) said.
The ministry quoted the latest European Commission evaluation report on the Greek adjustment programme, which gave a positive assessment of the country's economic progress, opening the way for the disbursement of an 8.3 billion euros support loan to Greece, of which 6.3 billion euro will be floated next week.
"Greece has entered a long period of high and viable primary surpluses," the ministry said, as quoted by ANA-MPA. It also quoted the report on a primary surplus of 0.8 percent over GDP in 2013, which it said "overshoot the (fiscal adjustment) programme's targets and presented the opportunity to distribute a social aid bonus."
The ministry also said any fiscal gap existing now relative to the next few years will be "cancelled out by the satisfactory execution of this year's budget, the implementation of structural interventions and the gradual improvement of liquidity following the reintroduction of the state and Greek banks to (international) markets, in combination with the wider growth initiatives that will be announced in the immediate future."