{"id":12645,"date":"2016-12-15T10:21:54","date_gmt":"2016-12-15T08:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/?p=12645"},"modified":"2016-12-15T10:21:54","modified_gmt":"2016-12-15T08:21:54","slug":"moscovici-takes-aim-at-imf-claims-on-greek-bailout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/archives\/12645","title":{"rendered":"Moscovici takes aim at IMF claims on Greek bailout"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-animation=\"no-animation\" data-icons-animation=\"no-animation\" data-overlay=\"\" data-change-size=\"\" data-button-size=\"0.7\" style=\"font-size:0.7em!important;display:none;\" class=\"supsystic-social-sharing supsystic-social-sharing-package-flat supsystic-social-sharing-content supsystic-social-sharing-content-align-left\" data-text=\"\"><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-1 counter-arrowed facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbestinsurance.gr%2Fa1%2Farchives%2F12645\" data-main-href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u={url}\" data-nid=\"1\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"12645\" data-url=\"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-facebook\"><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap arrowed\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-1 counter-arrowed twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbestinsurance.gr%2Fa1%2Farchives%2F12645&text=Moscovici+takes+aim+at+IMF+claims+on+Greek+bailout\" data-main-href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url={url}&text={title}\" data-nid=\"2\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"12645\" data-url=\"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-twitter\"><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap arrowed\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><\/div><p>Moscovici takes aim at IMF claims on Greek bailout.The EU\u2019s economic policy chief has hit back at criticisms by the International Monetary Fund of Greece\u2019s bailout programme, warning that the country should not be faced with \u201cpolitically impossible\u201d demands.<\/p>\n<p>Writing in the Financial Times, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/f39c47d2-c21e-11e6-81c2-f57d90f6741a\" data-trackable=\"link\">Pierre Moscovici<\/a> rebuffed claims made by senior IMF officials this week that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/b0b987c6-c08a-11e6-81c2-f57d90f6741a\" data-trackable=\"link\">Greece\u2019s debt is \u201chighly unsustainable\u201d<\/a> and that the country needs further comprehensive tax and pensions reform.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn this era of \u2018post-truth\u2019 politics, it is more important than ever not to let certain claims go unchallenged,\u201d Mr Moscovici, the EU\u2019s economic and financial affairs commissioner wrote, adding that Greece has \u201cmade unprecedented efforts\u201d including \u201cmajor reforms of the pension, personal income tax and VAT systems\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>His comments reflect longstanding frustration in the European Commission about what it sees as the fund\u2019s stubbornness in not recognising an improving situation in Greece.<\/p>\n<p>But they risk further inflaming tensions with the IMF, which is already at loggerheads with the euro area over whether the fund will agree to join the \u20ac86bn bailout.<\/p>\n<p>At the heart of the split is a demand from euro area governments that Greece reaches a budget surplus in 2018 of 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product and sustains it \u201cover the medium term\u201d, a period that Berlin would like to last for as long as 10 years.<\/p>\n<p>The IMF has warned that it believes 3.5 per cent is far too high and that sticking to it would probably require Greece to take \u201csignificant additional measures\u201d to boost state coffers. It has argued that these extra steps should be \u201clegislated upfront\u201d so as to leave no doubt about the country\u2019s political resolve to see them through if needed.<\/p>\n<p>The fund has also called for sweeping changes to Greece\u2019s income tax and pensions systems, arguing that they are unsustainable.<\/p>\n<p>Many parts of its analysis have been rejected as unduly pessimistic by the commission, while prompting a furious response from Athens.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is vital that agreement on credible fiscal targets\u201d for the years beyond 2018 \u201cis arrived at swiftly\u201d, Mr Moscovici wrote.<\/p>\n<p>These targets should \u201cnot overestimate Greece\u2019s ability to meet them without undermining growth\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009but nor should they be based on deliberately pessimistic projections, or tied to demands that are politically impossible, economically undesirable and socially unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His comments also reflect broader concerns about the gulf still to be bridged between the euro area and the IMF if the fund is to join the Greek bailout.<\/p>\n<p>The rift has already scuppered a longstanding goal of the IMF taking a decision to join the bailout by the end of this year. Its participation is seen as crucial for the programme to continue successfully, amid fears that parliamentarians in the Netherlands and Germany will be increasingly reluctant to approve tranches of bailout aid unless the IMF is fully involved.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Moscovici said a deal should be reached on the budget targets by early 2017.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe political leaders of the eurozone and of Greece\u2019s creditor institutions must now take the initiative,\u201d he wrote. \u201cWe need all partners on board, taking a shared responsibility in achieving this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Source:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/c42919b0-c22f-11e6-81c2-f57d90f6741a?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fhome_us%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct\" target=\"_blank\">link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div data-animation=\"no-animation\" data-icons-animation=\"no-animation\" data-overlay=\"\" data-change-size=\"\" data-button-size=\"0.7\" style=\"font-size:0.7em!important;display:none;\" class=\"supsystic-social-sharing supsystic-social-sharing-package-flat supsystic-social-sharing-content supsystic-social-sharing-content-align-left\" data-text=\"\"><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-1 counter-arrowed facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbestinsurance.gr%2Fa1%2Farchives%2F12645\" data-main-href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u={url}\" data-nid=\"1\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"12645\" data-url=\"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-facebook\"><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap arrowed\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><a data-networks=\"[]\" class=\"social-sharing-button sharer-flat sharer-flat-1 counter-arrowed twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbestinsurance.gr%2Fa1%2Farchives%2F12645&text=Moscovici+takes+aim+at+IMF+claims+on+Greek+bailout\" data-main-href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url={url}&text={title}\" data-nid=\"2\" data-name=\"\" data-pid=\"1\" data-post-id=\"12645\" data-url=\"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-mailto=\"\"><i class=\"fa-ssbs fa-ssbs-fw fa-ssbs-twitter\"><\/i><div class=\"counter-wrap arrowed\"><span class=\"counter\">0<\/span><\/div><\/a><\/div><p>Moscovici takes aim at IMF claims on Greek bailout.The EU\u2019s economic policy chief has hit back at criticisms by the International Monetary Fund of Greece\u2019s bailout programme, warning that the country should not be faced with \u201cpolitically impossible\u201d demands. Writing in the Financial Times, Pierre Moscovici rebuffed claims made by senior IMF officials this week<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12645"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12646,"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12645\/revisions\/12646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestinsurance.gr\/a1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}