New Relaxation on Capital Controls Very Soon, Finmin Tsakalotos Says
It is obvious that the figures add up, said Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos in an interview with Naftemporiki newspaper on Saturday noting that "they add up because we have taken as calculating basis the financial area which we have already agreed with the institutions and are included in the mid-term programme". He explained that if this area widens then, something he did not exclude, all the better for us. Asked on the financing way of the personal difference for the pensioners without abolition of the total of the programmed for 2019 offset measures he said "as the prime minister said to TIF (Thessaloniki International Fair) not only have we reached 3.5 percent but we also have fiscal room to implement a large number of the offset measures with targeted social interventions and growth-friendly measures without reducing the pensions. This discussion is currently in progress. Tsakalotos said that the government's aim is "3.5 percent primary surplus and in parallel to conclude the reforms we have already launched".