Greece and its foreign creditors reached a deal early on Tuesday on a package of bailout-mandated reforms, Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said, paving the way for the disbursement of further rescue funds.
"There was white smoke," Tsakalotos told reporters, using a term associated with papal elections.
"The negotiations for a technical deal were concluded on all issues. the way has now been paved for debt relief talks."
Talks on the deal, which includes labor and energy reforms as well as pension cuts and tax rises, had dragged on for half a year mainly due to a rift between the European Union and the International Monetary Fund over fiscal targets.
Greece now needs to legislate the new measures before euro zone finance ministers approve the disbursement of loans, money Athens needs to repay 7.5 billion euros in debt maturing in July. The next scheduled Eurogroup meeting is on May 22, where reducing Greece`s debt will also be discussed.
As part of the reforms, Athens has promised to cut pensions in 2019 and cut the tax-free threshold in 2020 to produce savings worth 2 percent of gross domestic product.
0 comments:
Post a Comment