14th Evaluation: The discussions between the Institutions and the government peak today

The “exit” of Greece from Enhanced Supervision is expected to mean the end of the 14th post-memorandum evaluation of Greece, which is in progress, while today meetings are being held between the government and the Institutions.

During the meetings, which will take place at the highest level, issues are expected to be raised such as the increase of the minimum wage, the settlement of overdue debts to individuals with emphasis on pensions until June, the new payroll of the State, the new system of controls and receipts of the tax office as well as issues concerning over-indebted borrowers.

It is worth noting that the completion of the talks during the next period is expected to lead to the last two tranches, amounting to 1.5 billion euros, that Greece expects from the Institutions, which are based on the debt agreement, which was reached in 2018. Next, the goal of exiting the post-memorandum supervision regime is expected to be met, which is one of the main goals of the government, which argues that this will give the signal to markets and investors that the Greek economy is going up “track”

Regarding the two installments, one of the possibilities is their disbursement in June, when the ratification of the evaluation by the Eurogroup is expected.

Otherwise, one installment is expected to be paid in June and the next within 2022.

When will the exit take place

Government planning calls for an exit from oversight in August. From there, Greece will be evaluated for its results in the economy every six months, as is the case with other countries that are under post-program monitoring, until it repays 75% of the loans it has received in the past.

However, the current situation is particularly problematic for the economy, as both the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine create inflammatory conditions, something that is recognized by the government’s financial staff, as reflected in yesterday’s position of Finance Minister Christos Staikouras, after the end of the Ecofin Council in Luxembourg, who called for a unified European response to the crisis.

The minimum wage is on the agenda

Beyond that, the government has set itself the goal of implementing the prerequisites as quickly as possible, at least in terms of issues that are easy to resolve.

With regard to the current issues, which will be raised in today’s discussions, the decisions on the amount of the increase of the minimum wage will be determined, in order to be implemented from 1 May. Regarding pensions that are pending and have been targeted by the Institutions, the Ministry of Labor has assured that this issue will be resolved by the end of June. Discussions with the institutions are expected to include the government’s plan to provide incentives to public employees to achieve goals.

Other issues

At the same time, the meeting of the government and institutions will deal with issues such as the primary health care reform and the public payroll. In this context, the government plan for additional benefits will be evaluated, which will act as incentives to increase the efficiency and productivity of employees.

Also, the actions related to the liquidation of the pending cases of N Katselis, the liquidation of all the pending state guarantees and the transitional protection scheme for vulnerable debtors with main residence will be set.

Finally, the system of receipts of the tax office is also an issue. This is the new tool of State Revenue Service – AADE that will allow the automatic collection of debts, while new methods and technologies will be applied in the context of compulsory debt collection. It is worth noting that the specific system has not been delivered by the contractor in its entirety to AADE and its operation has now been postponed to September, instead of the April that was scheduled.