By T. Tsiros & N. Bellos
Sept. 26 is the apparent deadline for ratifying a draft bill through Parliament that must include all 13 remaining “prior actions” demanded by creditors from the Greek government, in order to free up a 2.8-billion-euro sub-tranche in bailout money.
The date is three days before a Euro Working Group session.
The development means that relevant Greek ministries and legal departments must finish drawing up the draft legislation, at the same time as ongoing negotiations are taking place – now via teleconferencing – between creditors’ representatives and the Greek government. Meanwhile, an IMF delegation remained in Athens this week to draft a report on the Greek economy’s current state and prospects.
The IMF report comes three years after the last such assessment by the Washington-based Fund, and will reportedly influence the IMF board’s decision on whether to participate in the continued funding of the Greek state; to remain an observer in the current “quartet” of creditors, or to abandon the Greek program entirely.
According to reports following Monday’s meeting between Greek FinMin Euclid Tsakalotos and the representative of the IMF for Greece, Delia Velculescu, the latter flatly rejected the prospect of the Greek economy posting primary budget surplus targets of 3.5 percent of GDP, as envisioned by the third memorandum for 2018 and after.
