Galery

1

The negotiations between the Ministry of Administrative Reform and representatives of the Troika last month did not get further than the Greek request for a two-month extension of the deadline for the preparation of detailed lists of 12,500 civil servants from the second wave of mobility, which must be submitted to the Troika by the end of the year.

In connection with the request, Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis argues that it will take time to revise the structures of the ministries, so that those who would be involved in the so-called labour reserve would come directly from the reduction of staff. The Troika, in turn, has requested to immediately receive a list of the names of the employees of the second wave of mobility, stating that it will otherwise require more cuts in the public sector. In this situation, the Ministry of Administrative Reform will have to draw up a comprehensive proposal for the next stage of negotiations which is to take place at the end of the month.

It should be noted that the preconditions for the granting of the tranche of 1 billion euro include the vote in parliament of the already drafted new lawyer’s code and the publication of the relevant law in the Official Gazette.

"Considerable improvement of the situation"

There are no data showing that 2014 will require new fiscal measures since, according to the available information, the primary surplus may be larger than anticipated. At the same time, no one is able to forecast now whether 2015 and 2016 would require new measures but the available data show that the opposite is more likely to happen.
 
This is the assessment of the Economic Analysis Department of Alpha Bank, which criticizes the Troika on the grounds that, by putting such issues to the fore, it is shaking economic, investment and consumer confidence, which seems to have been slowly recovering since May 2013.

The weekly economic report of the bank states that, between May and October 2013, important positive developments in key sectors of the economy have occurred in Greece, indicating a significant improvement of its current economic state. The result of them is a significant slowdown in the decline in GDP in 2013, below 3.7%, and a steady improvement of the prospects for Greece’s economic recovery from 2014 onwards. Another effect of the improved situation is the improvement of the fiscal adjustment in 2013, the achievement of impressive progress in all areas of structural reforms and the significant improvement in international competitiveness.

Investors worldwide have approved these positive signs and have invested significant capital in Greece in recent months. The report also stresses that the smooth recapitalization of the banks in the private sector and the subsequent positive development of the market of Greek government bonds and of the Greek stock exchange have been the result of the investment of significant capital too.