Ifo Institute criticises slow pace of reform in Greece

The Ifo Institute has criticised the slow pace of reform in Greece. “The requirements of the third bailout package for Greece have only been half-heartedly implemented in the last seven months, but fresh funding is being used,” said Niklas Potrafke, Director of the Ifo Center for Public Finance and Political Economy on Monday in Munich.

A new privatisation fund supervised by European institutions, for example, has not been set up to date, and the old HRDAF fund continues to control the assets to be privatised.

“In view of procedures to date, it is questionable whether these privatisations can really generate 50 billion euros. In the past they have only produced single figure billion sums. The privatisation goals of recent years have not been met and targets have been repeatedly downwardly revised,” explained Potrafke.

Although the discounted VAT rate was abolished on six Greek islands on 1 October 2015, the lower tax rate continues to apply on several others. Moreover, after the general strike in February, it seems unlikely that the government will be able to demand higher pension contributions.

Ifo is one of Europe’s leading research institutes which focuses on applied economic research with clear policy implications with a view to achieving greater stability, prosperity and cohesion for Europe and the world. Ifo’s research is increasingly focused on European and global issues.