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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Haim R. Branisteanu who wrote (93147)	8/5/2012 11:38:27 AM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Respond to of 217769

Greek Austerity Talks With Troika Resume Early September - or more of the same 05-Aug-2012 --Greece to resume talks with troika on cuts early September --IMF official says negotiations on 11.5 billion euro austerity plan went well --Package may include increasing retirement age, cutting pensions-report By Stelios Bouras ATHENS--Greece will resume talks with a visiting delegation of international creditors early September on 11.5 billion euros of cuts, giving Athens about a month to work out an austerity mix that will meet demands for the steep cuts and calls from coalition government partners to avoid measures targeting hard-hit, low-income earners. After a meeting lasting more than two hours Sunday between senior Greek government officials, including Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras and Labor Minister Yiannis Vroutsis, and representatives from international creditors, Poul Thomsen, the IMF's mission chief, said talks on the cuts were going well. "We made good progress," he told reporters. "We are taking a break and will be back early September." In a joint statement issued shortly afterwards, the European Central Bank, European Commission and IMF, said talks on the Greek program "were productive and there was overall agreement on the need to strengthen policy efforts to achieve its objectives." In the last week, Greek officials have been locked in meetings with representatives from the EU, IMF and ECB--also known as the troika--in an attempt to finalize the measures needed to open the way for the next aid tranche to be paid to Greece from its second 173 billion bailout package. Without a green light from the troika, Athens may not receive its next 31 billion euros installment of funding, slated to be disbursed in September. Mr. Stournaras is being asked to walk a tightrope on the savings plan--balancing demands by Greece's lenders for the cuts, worth some 5.5% of annual economic output, and calls from Greece's junior coalition partners--Pasok and Democratic Left--to avoid across-the-board reductions on pensions, public-sector salaries and social-welfare benefits. This comes after the two junior coalition partners dropped last week demands that the cuts be implemented over more time, in a dispute that signaled the first sign of a crack appearing across the fragile coalition partnership formed in June. A senior government official said that a "good portion" of the cuts for 2013 and 2014 have been decided upon with the troika, without providing further details. "There is an attempt for the measures to be fair - no across-the-board cuts that are socially unjust," said a second government official who took part in the meeting. About EUR6 billion of total cuts are expected to come from public sector salaries, pensions and state benefits. Among those being considered is increasing the retirement age to 66, from 65, and possibly 67 in 2015, weekly newspaper To Vima reported Sunday, without citing sources. Reductions to pensions above EUR1,400 or EUR1,500 per month are also being looked at, the paper said. Greece is hoping that the austerity plan, along with efforts to move ahead its delayed privatization program, will be enough to convince international creditors to extend its loan agreement by two years to 2016. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is scheduled to meet with socialist Pasok leader Evangelos Venizelos and Democratic Left chief Fotis Kouvelis Monday on clearing legal obstacles holding up the sale of state assets. (END) Dow Jones Newswires