Brussels, 13/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - As Greece was considering new cuts in public spending on Friday 13 July 2012 (reported to be to the order of €11.5 bn) under the watchful eye of its international lenders (the European Central Bank, European Commission and International Monetary Fund, collectively known as the troika), the head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, was telling CNBC news that it was “way too premature to discuss extension”.
Simon O'Connor, a spokesperson for Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, said that one would have to await the outcome of the next troika fact-finding mission to Athens (due to start on 24 July) before talking about timing. He said the mission would be part of the ongoing assessment of whether what is being done in Greece complies with the aid programme implementation memorandum.
A spokesman for the IMF, Gerry Rice, said on 12 July that there had been delays in implemeting the Greek structural adjustment programme. At a press conference in Washington, he said: “So far, some targets were met, a number were missed and in some cases we don't have enough of the data to assess”. He ruled out any talks between the IMF and Athens on timing, saying: “But if there are ideas how to better achieve those objectives, we are open to that, as we are in the case of any other program”. After a eurozone finance ministers' meeting recently, the head of Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, said that various requests from Greece would be discussed in September at the latest (see EUROPE 10652). Greek finance ministerYannis Stournaras has said he is planning to ask for more time to meet the conditions laid down by Greece's lenders.
The new Greek government is settling in and is planning to make budget cuts of some €11.5 billion, cuts that will be submitted for approval to the three main parties in the coalition government on Wednesday 18 July before being submitted to the troika's next fact-finding mission on 24 July. If Greece's institutional lenders are satisfied with implementation of the programme, they may decide to release the next tranche of aid, needed by Athens to roll over debt on 20 August. (EL/transl.fl)