First Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece

In the latest development, the European Commission spokesperson on Financial Affairs, Annika Breidthaerdt said in a press briefing that the European Commission was unaware of the details of the Greek PM’s announcements, responding to a question by protothema.gr.

The former head of the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), Andreas Georgiou, has been cleared of any wrongdoing for staying in his role at the International Monetary Fund during his first months as the Greek statistics chief.

While the IMF has asked for 4,2 billion Euros worth of austerity measures for 2019-2020, a government official assessed that neither the Syriza government nor any other can sign off on it in the event that the demand for a primary surplus of 3.5% in 2019-2020 still stands.

The Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde is not expected to take part in the December 5 EuroGroup meeting, according to an EU source, which portends an overall agreement on the Greek issue is not imminent.

Benoit Coeure, the European Central Bank’s (ECB) executive board member, said that Greece was not in need of a fourth bailout program, speaking to Greek television station Skai TV. Coeure left the possibility of reducing the 3.5% GDP surplus target open after the completion of the current memorandum.

Appealing to the Greek government for a technical agreement by the week’s end in order to lock an agreement at Eurogroup in Brussels on December 5, EU Commissioner for Economic & Financial Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, said: “We should listen to the concerns of the countries who do not want a debt relief,'” leaving open the possibility of new measures.

The end of November is an informal benchmark for determining the role of the IMF in the new Greek bailout program.  It remains to be determined whether the IMF will assume a strictly advisory role in which it monitors and suggests policies, but doesn’t finance the memorandum.

The EuroGroup Ministers have decided to release only a portion of the pending 2.8bln Euro sub-tranche to Greece, as part of the bailout program after meeting in Luxembourg, Monday.

Greece is facing the spectre of reliving the economic drama of 2015, when the country suffered a liquidity suffocation, after an anonymous European Commission source revealed to Bloomberg, Friday, that the IMF would not participate in the Greek bailout program before the 2017 German elections.

Euro zone finance ministers pushed Greece on Friday to get back to work and speed up a reform drive it agreed to in a bailout package before getting a new tranche of money.