Eurogroup to convene on Monday (20/02/2017); moderate expectations
The IMF does not seem to retreat from its demand for additional measures while the Greek government insists on no more austerity.
As government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos reiterated in an interview with Realnews on Sunday (19/02/2017), "the second programme review must be concluded as soon as possible without additional austerity."
The government's main aim is to achieve a political agreement on three pillars: reforms, primary surpluses and medium term plans on debt. Provided that the target of the agreement is met, the technical staff will return in Athens and a staff level agreement will be swiftly reached. The next step would be for the IMF to ask from the executive council of the fund to approve the participation in the Greek programme.
Greece has a significant asset in today's negotiations and that is the report of the Council of the EU member states according to which the IMF has made important mistakes as far as it regards a series of economic indices and figures.
Source: ana-mpa