Health sector-related debts comprise the “lion’s share” of arrears owed by the Greek state to individuals and the private sector, with the figure topping seven billion euros in May, a development that only worsened economic conditions.
The finance ministry on Thursday posted on the Internet the names of individuals and companies -- some inactive for decades -- that owe the state more than 150,000 euros in back taxes and custom duties, yet at the same time the Greek state has exacerbated the economic crisis in the country by not paying off suppliers, contractors or duly issuing tax rebates.
June was expected to mark the beginning of payments for overdue state debts, given that 7.5 billion euros of a 10.3-billion-euro bailout loan flowed in Greek state coffers in June. Making timely payments to the private sector is also a commitment signed by Athens and included in the third memorandum. A subsequent addendum to the third bailout, in fact, mandates that the Greek government cannot shift money provisioned to pay off its private sector debts for other purposes.
Specifically, a new clause stipulates that creditors will withhold any new loan instalment to pay off outstanding debts unless 80 percent of debts for which a previous instalment was disbursed haven’t been cleared.
A timetable presented by the government earmarks 2.6 billion euros by September 2016; 1.8 billion in the last quarter of 2016 and 2.3 billion in the first half of 2017.
