Greece seems on track with budget cuts and economic reforms demanded as part of a bail-out to rescue the debt-laden nation from bankruptcy, a team from the European Union, IMF and European Central Bank said today.
The joint team said a three-day interim review showed that Athens was holding firm controls on spending and that the budget deficit was smaller than projected at the end of May, although full data beyond the central government were not yet available.
'While the mission did not undertake a comprehensive review at this time, its discussions suggest that the programme is on track and that the policies are being implemented as agreed,' the joint EU, ECB, IMF statement said.
'Fiscal developments are positive with central government revenues coming in closely as expected and with firm expenditure control in the state budget,' it added.
The delegation visited Athens to check on the country's progress in meeting the terms of a three-year, €110-billion bail-out plan. It will return for a full review at the end of July to receive information on budget developments in the wider public sector, such as state-run pension funds and local government, which are necessary to obtain a full picture, it said.
The IMF, EU and the ECB will review Greek progress every three months to approve successive aid tranches, enabling the debt-laden country to roll over expiring debt.
The delegation has to complete its first review of Greek progress by August 30 for the country to receive €9 billion of aid. Greece last month received a first payment of €20 billion.
But the experts found that Greek inflation remained too high. It was running at a 13 year high of 5.4% a year in May, partly boosted by tax increases to shore up the deficit.
