The Eurogroup has afforded a "green light" to the Greek government to issue a further round of emergency measures to deal with the ongoing coronavirus outbreak and its economic repercussions.
In the first stage, Athens appears to have secured European partners' approval for a reduction in the primary budget surplus targets that the Greek state must annually achieve, with specific expenditures to be excluded from calculating the fiscal targets. The same policy will be followed for expenditures to deal with the migrant crisis that has resurfaced on Greece's land and sea borders with Turkey.
In a statement after the conclusion of the Eurogroup meeting, Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said a reduction in revenues and a boost in employment subsidies, due to shrinking economic activity, will be taken into consideration by all member-states.
"As a result, there is no 3.5 percent of GDP goal for Greece this year," he said.
