Opportunity to reduce budget target

The drop in Greek state borrowing costs since last summer, when Athens agreed with creditors on primary surpluses of 3.5 percent of gross domestic product up to 2022 and 2.2 percent from 2023 to 2060, is paving the way for a reduction to those targets, analysts have told Kathimerini. This also comes at a time when Greece has just tapped the markets with a new seven-year bond at a rate below 2 percent.

The government intends to put this issue on the negotiating table in the fall of 2020 so that targets are reduced as of 2021. Already, economists tell Kathimerini, the average interest rate for servicing Greece's debt in the long term has shrunk considerably compared with the calculations of the creditors on which last summer's deal was based. Therefore, thanks to the very good course of Greek bonds, the government can achieve an agreement with its creditors for a reduction to...