OECD

The Greek Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government is working towards convergence with its international creditors from the European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF). So far, Greece’s lenders have yet to open their canisters and offer Greece the 7.2 bln euros benchmarked for the country since last year.

Here’s what creditors’ conditions are, as listed in a framework text handed to the Greek government.
— An extra 1.8 billion euros in revenue for VAT hikes, with the rate at 11 percent for foodstuffs, medicines and hotels, but with the abolition of the lower for certain islands.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) cut Turkey?s growth forecast for 2015 to 3.1 percent from 3.2 percent, the organization said in a report released on June 3.

Italian Economy and Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said on Wednesday he was confident a deal would be reached between Greece and its creditors but warned that time was running out.

"We will have a deal on Greece, I am fairly confident,» he told reporters on the margins of a conference at the OECD think tank in Paris.

A Greek exit from the euro zone is «not on the table», Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said on Wednesday, adding that he was certain a deal would be reached between Athens and its creditors.

The OECD on June 3 sharply lowered its global growth forecasts for 2015 and 2016, dragged down partly by a "transitory" shortfall in US performance and by businesses and governments skimping on investment.

Greece's central bank head urged the country's government to keep the country in the euro on Tuesday and not waste the "huge sacrifices" its population has made in recent years.

Yannis Stournaras said an agreement between Athens and its creditors from the eurozone and International Monetary Fund to keep the country afloat was "not far away."

Greece's banks remain solvent, the European Central Bank's top banking supervisor said on Tuesday.

Asked at a conference at the OECD in Paris whether Greek banks are well capitalized, Daniele Nouy, who heads the ECB's banking supervisory arm, said: "They are solvent."

By Debbie D E Papadakis

Good public governance is significant for improving the quality of life, Y?lmaz Argüden, the founder of the Argüden Governance Academy and chairman of ARGE Consulting, told a conference titled ?Good Governance in the Public Sector - Policies and Implementation? recently held in Ankara.