Greece and its European Union and International Monetary Fund creditors made progress on talks on a 13.5 billion-euro package of austerity measures for the next two years and said negotiations would continue next week.
Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras told reporters in Athens after briefing Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on the latest round of negotiations that he hoped the inspectors would give euro-area finance ministers meeting on Oct. 8 a good report.
“Talks are continuing,” Stournaras said. “There are differences and we’re not there yet. We will continue next week. We just hope that we will get a positive presentation from the troika at the eurogroup meeting.”
Negotiations between the government and the inspectors on spending cuts necessary to meet rescue agreements worth 240 billion euros have dragged on for weeks. Agreement on the budget measures are central to to the release of the next payment of 31 billion euros, destined primarily to recapitalize Greece’s banks in a bid to boost liquidity in a cash-starved economy.
Talks have been stalled over reluctance by Samaras and his coalition partners, Evangelos Venizelos of the socialist Pasok party and Fotis Kouvelis of Democratic Left, to sign off on more pension and wage reductions that will hurt Greeks already going through a fifth year of recession. The country’s statistical service said late yesterday that the economy shrank 7.1 percent last year, more than the 6.9 percent previously thought.
(source: Bloomberg)
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