Galery

1

The Ministry of Finance plans funding from international markets in 2011. This is what the Minister George Papakonstantinou said following a report of the government activities in times of crisis. He said Greece will have no problem to meet its obligations under the 2010 memorandum with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union to reduce the government deficit to 8.1 percent of GDP from the current 13.8 percent of GDP. There are hopes that international investors will trust the country and Greece will have the opportunity to be funded again from external markets in a more wholesome interest rates compared to those of the 2010 spring. Regular budget revenues have increased by seven per cent and the target is this increase to reach 11% compared with 2009. He explained that there is a positive trend for increasing the revenues in the treasury, regardless of the effect of recession in the country. If the reduced consumption leads to dramatic decline in tax revenues, the Minister of Finance Papakonstantinou expressed his willingness to resort to additional cuts in government expenditure. However, he was explicit that we can no longer speak of emergency economic measures, but only of fulfilling the obligations of Greece under the three-year recovery plan.

The Minister of Finance denied the publications stating that the increase in indirect taxes on alcohol and cigarettes has reduced consumption and said that the majority of tax revenue comes from excise group of products. The problems the government is facing in the near future are related to the delay of the legislative process and the keeping of the time frame in which the government should reform the state structures according to the requirements of the EU and the IMF. Another problem that the government is currently facing is the regulation of the high costs of central government. These are extra costs to cover the shortage of health facilities in the country and pension funds, where reforms have not yet completed. State Railways are another link in the Greek economy, which consumes resources without large financial returns.

The final list of names and positions of all civil servants will be prepared by early September. Under the new law, public sector wages will be paid directly by the Ministry of Finance and will be supervised by the Audit Office. In this way the government is trying to put order in public administration and through implementation of transparency in the payment system to optimize the costs of salaries and to tackle some of the currently known corruption practices in the public sector.
 
According to the memorandum for financial assistance from the European Union and IMF Greece should receive funding amounting to € 110 billion. The amount is allocated in 12 tranches the first of which was € 20 billion and was paid in early summer. The mission of the Triple will again come to Greece between July 20 and August 6 to check how the fiscal consolidation of the budget is implemented. If the international supervisors are satisfied with the results of the examination, Greece has yet to receive another nine billion euros by mid-September to meet its obligations to foreign investors and domestic payments to repay. Another nine billion will be paid at the end of December 2010 if the Mediterranean country implements the plan for financial sustainability and reforms the internal economic system in compliance with the Memorandum.