By T. Tsiros
The finance ministry’s general director for fiscal policy told “N” this week that the Greek state’s memorandum-mandated primary budget surplus for 2016 may hover at 2 percent of GDP.
Frangiskos Kountetakis also echoed the leftist government’s position, saying the enactment of “pre-emptive” austerity measures for after 2019 — via a Parliament vote — in order to ensure that fiscal targets are met, is a “politically unprecedented demand that obviously exceeds what has been agreed to (with creditors).”
“The (Greek government is calmly dealing with the situation, and is negotiating over a mutually acceptable solution,” he said.
Moreover, asked by “N” over recent leaks purportedly showing that the IMF considers the Greek debt as unsustainable, Kountetakis criticized what he called a change in position by the Fund, saying he’s “unable to follow such leaps in reason”.
If the primary budget surplus figure does achieve a 2-percent of GDP mark, then it would be 1.5 percentage points higher that the target (0.5 percent).
Moreover, he said the over-performance of revenue collection figures for 2016 was achieved via permanent measures, something he said “should be taken into consideration by the institutions (creditors) towards reducing a fiscal gap for 2018.”
Additionally, Kountetakis, who holds a crucial position in the current leftist government, deflected wide-spread criticism in the country over a “tax tsunami” imposed in 2016 to meet bailout program targets.
“There is no concern of an over-taxation ‘fatigue’ on the part of taxpayers. The government’s choice to depend on an increase of revenues, and not spending cuts, has been vindicated,” he opined.
