Official Athens appeared confident this week that negotiations for the third review of the ongoing bailout program will be concluded without a glitch, a far cry from the months of delays that plagued the first and second reviews.
Specifically, one unnamed government official, described as "high-ranking", was widely quoted by local media on Thursday evening as saying that a staff level agreement could be achieved by this weekend. The same sources, echoing the Tsipras government's "positive spin", said creditors' top auditors have accepted a forecast that a surplus of roughly 320 million euros will be generated from the 2018 budget.
The same source said the sum will arise from a spending review program, while promising that the surplus will be funneled back to the economy as either another one-off welfare benefit (roughly 240 million euros), or, to cover the loss in expected state revenues if lower VAT rates are retained for certain eastern Aegean islands.
The Greek side also appeared satisfied with negotiations over fiscal and credit sector issues, the latter including talks over the thorny problem of massive amounts of NPLs burdening Greek lenders' ledgers.
