Stournaras: Greek gov't expects progress statement by the troika

Commenting on ongoing negotiations between Greek authorities and the troika, the finance ministry official stressed that “time is short” ahead of a Eurogroup meeting next Monday and noted that if the government has not secured such a statement or the negotiations have not been completed by Sunday, then the government will seek approval for the disbursement of the loan through a teleconference (extraordinary Eurogroup).

The positive scenario for the government is to have “a technical agreement in principle, which gives the “green light” to Monday’s Eurogroup to reach a political decision on approving the disbursement of the loan, which will be disbursed in tranches, based on the implementation of the program. The finance ministry reiterates that there was no fiscal gap for 2014 and stressed that negotiations with the troika will focus on drafting a new medium-term framework program.

High-ranking officials of the ministry said the negotiations’ biggest problems were the implementation of a package of recommendations made by OECD aimed to boost competitiveness and reforms in labor relations, although pending issues related with a reform in the public sector (mobility scheme-dismissals) were equally important.

Greek Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras is scheduled to travel to Brussels on Saturday night, or early Sunday, to prepare the Ecofin meeting on banking union.