European debt crisis

Greece needs to agree with its eurozone lenders on a lower fiscal target path to achieve a sustainable economic and social recovery, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday after a mission visit to Athens.

At Thursday's Euro Working Group the creditors' mission chiefs reported that their visit to Athens this week had taken place amid a positive climate. However, they also expressed reservations regarding the achievement of the target for a primary surplus of 3.5 percent of gross domestic product next year.

The government will try to bridge the gap between its own estimates regarding the 2020 budget and those of the country's creditors before it tables its first draft on October 7.

The start of the fourth post-bailout assessment of Greece by its creditors, which starts on Monday, represents a new era in relation between the two sides, as they have to construct a new framework of cooperation after the change in government, based on trust and the adoption of common targets.

Following the repayment of the 2.5 billion dollars Russian loan this year, the government has indicated that it is also planning for the early repayment of the debt to the International Monetary Fund.

The fall of the Berlin Wall marked one of the greatest turning points in world history, seen by many as a bright new dawn for Europe and its path towards freedom and unification.

But three decades on from the event that set off the continent's path to the end of communism, nations are re-erecting metaphorical and literal walls, sowing division again.

Greece's Finance Minister Christos Staikouras will discuss a request for an early repayment of part of the country's outstanding loans to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during Friday's Eurogroup meeting in Helsinki.
Athens is keen to repay the IMF loan which is more expensive than the yields Greece currently pays in the markets on its bonds.

Senior eurozone officials were neutral to positive this week to a plan presented by their Greek peer for Athens to repay earlier some of its costly loans from the International Monetary Fund, a senior EU official said on Friday.
Greece, cut off from the markets during the sovereign debt crisis of 2010-2015, borrowed heavily from the IMF and eurozone governments.

The cost of money is refusing to drop at any significant pace in Greece as borrowing remains stubbornly high for local enterprises and households in the face of low interest rates in the eurozone.

Small and medium-sized enterprises and the few households that are able to secure bank credit are burdened with rates that are twice the eurozone average.

First, the good news: The government is on a mission to brief our eurozone partners, the other European Union members and our creditors on its plans to boost growth and its intentions to fast-forward long-stagnant reforms by cutting back on excessive spending and pushing privatizations, and then, and only then, present its demands.