Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
clear sky
weather
OMAN
25°C / 25°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Germany wants Greece in euro zone

926813
926813
minus
plus

BRUSSELS/BERLIN: Germany on Monday backed Greece to stay in the euro zone and Brussels dispatched a senior official to Athens to persuade reluctant Greeks to take on further reforms to salvage its bailout accord.


It came as the European Commission forecast a large jump in economic growth for Greece of 2.7 per cent and 3.1 per cent, respectively, this year and next.


In Athens, Yannis Stournaras, Greece’s central bank chief, said a swift agreement with international lenders was crucial to keeping the Greek economy on the mend and that down the road “it may be too late”.


The future of Greece’s multi-billion euro financial aid programme is contingent on Athens concluding a second review of progress in its economic reform obligations.


But months of wrangling over changes to its labour and energy markets have been compounded by differences between the International Monetary Fund and Greece’s European lenders over fiscal targets for the crisis-hit country, now on its third international bailout.


The IMF is not party to the country’s current bailout, and says it will not partake until it has assurances Greece will be able to extricate itself from a spiral of debt.


European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said the IMF was being too pessimistic.


“The problem is that the IMF is coming with very pessimistic growth and fiscal forecasts as regards Greece. Moreover it is not correcting those forecasts based on facts, based on the actual outcomes,” he said in Frankfurt.


A mission of experts from the lenders was expected to return to Athens this week to give their latest state of play report, EU officials said. European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici said he would travel to Athens on Wednesday to help conclude the review.


A deal would release another tranche of funds from this bailout, worth up to 86 billion euros, and facilitate Greece making a major 7.2 billion euro debt repayment this summer. But it is a process fraught with difficulty, prompting fears of a re-run of high drama in mid-2015 when Greece teetered on the verge of falling out of the euro zone.


Greece almost fell out of the euro zone two years ago as it was wracked by its debt crisis and years of lender-imposed austerity that killed economic growth and put millions out of work.


But Germany sought on Monday to say that nothing has changed in its desire to keep the euro zone intact with Greece in it.


“For years, euro zone member states, including Germany, have shown active solidarity with Greece with the goal to bring this country to a path of sustainable finances and economic growth,” Steffen Seibert told a regular government news conference.


“It is a mission that has dragged on for many years and we are holding on to it,” he added.


Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer added: “We want to keep the euro zone whole, including Greece, and we will support everything that helps Greece. That’s why we want the aid programme to continue to be successful.” The size of next year’s Greek primary surplus, which is the budget balance before debt-servicing costs, is a bone of contention between euro zone governments and the IMF.


— Reuters


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon