Greece’s prime minister warned Tuesday that the country was sinking even deeper into recession and called for unity in implementing essential reforms as a delegation of international inspectors returned to the Greek capital.
Speaking to parliamentary deputies from his center-right New Democracy party, Antonis Samaras said Greece’s economy was likely to contract by more than 7% this year–far worse than official forecasts of 4.7%–and that a recovery is not expected until 2014 at the earliest.
“This year’s recession may surpass 7%. Our first aim is to halt the recession and to start the recovery,” Mr. Samaras said. “This year we will begin to rein in the recession. And by the start of 2014, we will be able to proceed to a recovery.”
His remarks come as a inspectors from the so-called troika of international lenders, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank arrive in Athens to conduct a review of the country’s delayed reform program and proposed spending cuts.
“First we must regain the trust of the people, without which no major reform can be completed. And second, we have to restore the country’s credibility abroad, something that is essential to attract investments and create jobs,” Mr. Samaras added.
Mr. Samaras said the government’s priority included cutting joblessness to 10% within its four-year term–down from nearly 23% now–speeding up the country’s moribund privatization program, cutting public waste, and slashing red tape to help attract investments.
The prime minister reaffirmed Greece’s commitment to meet the budget deficit targets set out under the loan agreement–but he faces a tall order as opposition parties and the country’s powerful unions have vowed to resist many of those cutbacks, reforms and privatizations.
“We must proceed with major reforms, not because someone asks us to, but because they should have been done a long time ago,” Mr. Samaras said. “We must fully observe fiscal reform targets–eliminating deficits, reducing debt, instigating structural reforms–but also removing any obstacles that stand in the way of meeting those targets.”
(source: Dow Jones)
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