Creditors’ representatives and the Greek government have reportedly covered most of the distance separating the two sides in terms a new out-of-court regime to settle arrears and self-employed professionals’ debts to the state.
According to finance ministry sources, the main difference is over a prioritization of arrears, with creditors reportedly pushing for an across-the-board “haircut” of arrears, which would include the initial debt.
The Greek side, again according to only government sources, wants to exclude arrears emanating from failure to turn over VAT remittances and income taxes.
The strategic goal is to eliminate arrears from the books connected to companies that have long ceased operation and have no asset to their name, along with individual taxpayers no longer in employment or even living.
The government is apparently insisting of eliminating arrears in a descending order, beginning, for instance, with fines and penalty interest rates tacked on to arrears.
Based on the figures provided by the ministry’s public revenues general directorate to creditors’ representatives, collectible arrears are estimated at 10 billion euros, whereas a whopping 30 billion of the total is judged as non-collectible.
Any agreement on the out-of-court settlement process is considered as significant, as it will allow a process to move forward to deal with up to 400,000 NPLs owed by businesses and self-employed professionals.
