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The Troika notes "fatigue" of reforms in Greece

10 March 2011 / 15:03:43  GRReporter
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Responsible representatives of the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission found "fatigue" of reforms in Greece and for the first time they are not sure whether the country will be able to meet its obligations under the Memorandum of financial support. In a speech before the European Parliament, Commissioner for Financial Affairs of the European Union Olli Rehn spoke openly of the need for sweeping reforms and ambitious and immediate privatization in order to implement and why not surpass the objectives of the Memorandum for 2011.

Experts from the IMF and the European Commission register slowdown on all fronts of the reforms. Although there are laws voted, the government does not proceed to put them into practice. For example - the laws to reform the state railways and on the liberalization of the labour market are still on paper only. And the commitment to the Troika for privatization worth 50 billion euros met powerful media response and ultimately ended in the promise of George Papandreou that national assets won’t be sold. In his speech before European Parliament Olli Rehn defined the privatization worth 50 billion by the end of 2015 euros as the key to the success of the Memorandum and said that the Greek government is fully committed to it. 2011 is crucial for Greece to regain the trust in its economy and to ensure access to markets within the next year, concludes the Commissioner.

The Managing Director of the IMF Dominique Strauss-Kahn subjected to scathing criticism the Greek tax system in an interview with the French Canal Plus. There are people in Greece who have no bread to eat, and others who have made tax evasion a national sport, said the French financier. It is the inability of Greece to collect taxes that was one of the reasons Moody's to cut its credit rating by three points to B1. And because of disagreement with the tax policy of the government the Secretary General of the Ministry of Finance Dimitris Georgakopoulos submitted his resignation yesterday that was immediately accepted.  

Today, Greece had to endure yet another blow, this time from Credit Suisse, which in its annual report predicts 37% haircut of the Greek external debt. The financial institution lowered its assessment for European banks and ranks in its report National Bank of Greece and Post Bank among those of the best deposits-loans ratios. The Prime Minister of Slovakia Iveta Radikova also spoke to Reuters of probable bankruptcy of Greece. Slovakia is the only country in the euro area, which has refused to participate in the rescue package of 110 billion euros the Troika allocated to Athens.  

Tags: TroikaReformsMemorandumTax policyCredit SuisseExternal debtCreditors
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