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The gaps in the financing programme for Greece will force the lenders from Europe and the International Monetary Fund to allocate a third support package to the country. This is the widespread scenario in Greece in recent days after it has become clear that, in the second half of 2014, Greece will be unable to repay its foreign debts due to the deepening economic crisis.
 
According to the European Commission, cited by Naftemporiki, the financial gaps in the budget could amount to 9.5 billion euro between 2013 and 2016.

A third financial aid and a new partial restructuring of the sovereign debt will cover the shortfall. Analysts from the country expect that the Greek government bonds held by the European Central Bank will be replaced with new ones with a longer maturity and a lower interest rate perhaps. They are worth 15-18 billion euro and the deferring of the obligation will help Greece avoid a possible suspension of payments over the next three years.
  
A new Memorandum of financial aid should be signed before the end of the current bailout agreement which will expire in the first half of 2014. It is expected that the talks on the new rescue plan will begin after the German elections this autumn.

So far, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and German Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schaeuble have categorically denied that there will be a further reduction of the Greek debt. At the same time, financiers inside and outside the country believe that the haircut of Greece’s debts is inevitable.

The problem with the enforcement of a new Memorandum of financial aid is that it will introduce additional fiscal consolidation measures. The budget spending will again be cut and the taxes will be increased. This could cause serious social unrest and trigger political instability. Another condition for the reduction of the Greek debt, which seems to be hard to implement, is for the privatization programme to be carried out smoothly.

The mission of the supervisory Troika of the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission will return to Athens this autumn when the lenders will make an accurate analysis of the shortfall in the budget for the period 2013-2016 and will determine the main parameters of the new contract for financial aid.

From spring 2010 to summer 2013, Greece has received 208 billion euro from the support mechanism. In 2014, the country will have to obtain another 16.1 billion euro, 7.2 billion euro of which will come from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and 8.9 billion euro from the International Monetary Fund. From spring 2010 to summer 2013, Greece has received 208 billion euro from the support mechanism. In 2014, the country will have to obtain another 16.1 billion euro, 7.2 billion euro of which will come from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and 8.9 billion euro from the International Monetary Fund. The external debt of the country for the same period amounts to 33.6 billion euro. In 2014, the state will have to pay government bonds worth 24.9 billion euro whereas the financing of the deficit will cost 8.7 billion euro.

The budget is already exhausted since the Ministry of Finance has admitted that the revenue in the treasury in the first half of 2013 is 1.62 billion euro less than planned. If the trend continues, the black hole in public finances will increase although the government expects additional revenues from the privatizations. "We cannot yet talk about a financial hole and about the introduction of new fiscal consolidation measures," said Minister of Finance Yiannis Stournaras, although some economists in the country do not agree with him.

The supervisory Troika’s report of January this year forecasted budgetary deficits of 4.2 billion euro for the period 2015-2016. The latest data suggest that the hole in the budget will be larger. The only chance to attract new funds beyond the financial assistance is through the formation of a high primary surplus and the government's privatization programme which has stalled in recent weeks. "The results of the privatization programme will be critical to the financing of the economy," states the report of the European Commission cited by the Greek media.

Under the reformed privatization plan, in 2013 Greece must collect from the sale of state assets of 1.5 billion euro instead of the 2.5 billion euro under the original project. The greater burden will remain for 2014, when the government will have to collect 3.5 billion euro from privatization deals.