In order for surpluses to exceed targets so as to distribute handouts, public investment is being cut continually, and private investment is stuck in a quagmire of uncertainty and insecurity.
The government appears to have managed achieve its two top goals of averting pension cuts and obtaining approval for a list of social benefits that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced.
Centeno said that the lending “institutions” trust Greece as regards continued implementation of reforms and meeting commitments in the coming years, so as to become a success story.
The government is sparring with Greece’s creditors over the pension cuts issue, as the line from Brussels is that Athens cannot at once scrap legislated pension cuts and implement all the anti-austerity measures that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced at the September Thessaloniki International Fair, especially since revised divs on Greece’s growth rate in 2019 […]
Representatives of “the new” in politics, who are supposedly fighting for renewal in the country’s political life, come from the mould of the most vulgar and detrimental old-party politics that the country has seen in over forty years.
“The extensive reforms Greece has carried out have laid the ground for a sustainable recovery. This must be nurtured and maintained to enable the Greek people to reap the benefits of their efforts and sacrifices,” Moscovici said.
'Commitment to reforms is key to further growth. The current forecast rests on an assumption of no policy change for fiscal policy in 2019 and 2020. This is projected to result in a primary surplus of 3.9% of GDP (ESM programme definition).'
In essence, despite continual promises and proclamations, there is no organised and cohesive growth plan. The first thing that is sacrificed in order to reach the primary surplus targets set by Greece’s lenders is public investment.
The finance minister noted that over the past year ND claimed that there is a new, fourth bailout memorandum, because pensions will be cut, but now it is backpedaling, as it sees where things are going, and that Greece will return to the markets.
Moody’s decision is based on the important obstacles on the path toward sustainable development, the country’s exceptionally strict fiscal targets, and the weaknesses of the banking system.
The much-touted return to the markets has not materialised, and it appears that it will not happen in the foreseeable future.
The IMF appears determined to make its views known on a political level, beginning with the representatives of eurozone member-states in the Eurogroup Working Group, on 20-21 September.