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The meeting of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund, which has to approve the allocation of the next two tranches to Greece amounting to 3.6 billion euro, has been postponed yet again.

The evaluation report on the Greek programme, which is usually published 10 days after the meeting of the Executive Board, is to be released after the European Parliament elections, as stated by sources of "To Vima" newspaper. The same sources claim that the report, which will be prepared by head of the International Monetary Fund mission to Greece Poul Thomsen, will indicate a budget deficit of 2 billion euro in 2015 and over 3 billion euro in 2016.

The estimates of the International Monetary Fund are similar to those contained in the report of the European Commission but significantly differ from the estimates of the Greek government, which, in its medium-term programme, talks about a budget deficit of 911 million euro in 2015 and 1.93 billion euro in 2016. The report does not contain data on the deficit in 2014. Moreover, although a deficit of 2 billion euro is indicated for 2015, no measures have been requested for next year, since the September figures will be discussed again uponthe drawing up of the 2015 budget.

As noted by "To Vima" newspaper, the evaluation report on Greece, which is usually released a week to 10 days after the meeting of the Executive Board, will form the basis of the negotiations for the allocation of the 3.6 billion euro tranche. Accounting however for the fact that the meeting of the Board has been postponed due to "unresolved issues in Athens", probably the report will be released after the European elections, which has disturbed Minister of Finance Yiannis Stournaras, as the funds available in the treasury are insufficient.

The meeting was initially set for 16 May but it is already clear that the Ministry of Finance and the International Monetary Fund have not reached consensus on some details that are prerequisites for the report, which is why it has not been sent to Washington on time. According to the Rules of the International Monetary Fund, the report must be sent to the Board two weeks before its meeting.

Sources from Washington, but also from the Greek Ministry of Finance, report that the final text of the report was not sent by noon on Friday, 9 May. Thus, the most likely date of the meeting, if the date 23 May is missed, remains Friday, 30 May (unless something unexpected happens).

On Thursday, spokesman of the International Monetary Fund Jerry Rice said that the meeting is about to take place in "the coming weeks" and did not fail to emphasize that "political stability is an important issue in the Greek programme as well as in other programmes," apparently referring to the European elections.