Institutional creditors' top auditors return to Athens on Monday to commence negotiations aimed at concluding the fourth, and last, review of the ongoing bailout for Greece. Moreover, the third successive adjustment program is, by all accounts, the last such "lifeline" expected to be extended by European partners to the crisis-battered Eurozone member-state.
Institutional creditors' top auditors return to Athens on Monday to commence negotiations aimed at concluding the fourth, and last, review of the ongoing bailout for Greece. Moreover, the third successive adjustment program is, by all accounts, the last such "lifeline" expected to be extended by European partners to the crisis-battered Eurozone member-state.
The top auditors include the IMF's Peter Dolman - who recently replaced Delia Velculescu as the Fund's "point man" for Greece - Declan Costello on the part of the European Commission, the European Central Bank's Francesco Drudi and Nicola Giammarioli from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).
Contacts between the Greek side, mostly top ministers, and creditors' delegations will focus on three main axes: energy sector reforms and liberalization; a review of the program thus far, and privatizations.
An unofficial deadline to conclude the fourth review is a May 24 Eurogroup meeting in Brussels, if not sooner.
The leftist-rightist coalition government must implement no less than 88 "prior actions" as part of its obligations to conclude the fourth review, all before the bailout ends on Aug. 20, 2018.
For the poll-trailing Tsipras government, one of the more sensitive issues on the agenda of talks includes the possibility of bringing forward a reduction of the annual tax-free income threshold by a year, for implementation in 2019 instead of 2020. Creditors had demanded the specific austerity measure, with negotiations finally converging for implementation in 2020, although if deemed necessary to meet annual fiscal targets, then implementation could take place a year earlier.
Of course, general elections are set to take place in Greece 2019, assuming a snap election is not called in the meantime, which means that the austerity measure is something the current government is keen to avoid during an election year.
Other "hot potato" provisions that Athens must implement are a complete harmonization (upwards) of VAT rates in the country, a further reduction in the state's spending for pharmaceuticals, a continued promotion of agreed to privatizations, and, as repeatedly cited on all levels by creditors, an acceleration of electronic auctions of foreclosed real estate.
Loan money set to be disbursed to Greek state coffers until the end of the fourth bailout are 18.4 billion euros, along with 6.7 billion euros left over from the third review.