The IMF went on Monday went on a major “PR offensive” to defend its positions over the once again stumbling Greek program by pointing to what it identifies as chronic shortfalls in the country, with top IMF official Poul Thomsen taking direct aim at the recently ratified 2017 budget, which he called “a serious constraint on growth”.
The high-profile Danish economist, who is the IMF’s European department head, ticked off a “laundry list” of fiscal, economic and public administration ills he says plague the recession-battered country, complete with graphics.
The timing of the data-filled paper, entitled “The Case for Making the Greek Budget More Growth Friendly”, coincides with a return of creditors’ representatives to Athens for negotiations — amid now pressing deadlines and with unresolved issues extending past the conclusion of the current bailout program.
Thomsen, in fact, began by saying the Fund’s goal is to put the country back on the track to sustainable growth.
