A revised forecast by the IMF on Wednesday that the memorandum-mandated primary budget surplus by the Greek state will only reach 1.7 percent in 2017, as a percentage of GDP, a 0.1 percentage point decrease from a forecast last April, raised "alarm bells" in Athens.
Moreover, the IMF predicted that Greece's primary budget surplus for 2018 will only reach 2.2 percent, down from the 3.5-percent target prescribed in the ongoing third memorandum.
The news was widely reported in the Greek media on Wednesday afternoon, with speculation rife over whether the embattled leftist-rightist coalition government will be called up to take even more austerity measures to meet fiscal targets.
