The Greek Parliament approved a fiscal austerity package and privatisation measures, which are expected to open the way for the country to receive another tranche of the current recovery loan.
According to Slovakia's Finance Ministry, however, this does not mean that a new loan will be automatically be approved. "Slovakia still insists on conditions, which must be discussed by the Slovak Parliament," ministry spokesman Martin Jaroš told the TASR newswire on Wednesday, June 29. In the vote in Athens, 155 out of 300 MPs supported an unpopular five-year austerity package designed to save more than €28 billion.
Analysts questioned by TASR said that the package may not be enough to revive the debt-stricken country. The analysts still see several problems. According to Kamil Boroš from X-Trade Brokers, the projected savings under the Greek austerity package is simply too ambitious. "To fill the gap with €28 billion in five years - a sum equal to roughly a quarter of Greece's expenditures last year, I just think it's almost unbelievable under the current circumstances," Boroš said. UniCredit Bank Analyst Dávid Dereník believes that Greece actually has assets to use for paying off the debts, but there may be a lack of political will in Greece to pursue this. "I suppose that Greece will be forced to restructuralise its debt, but it's not inevitable. At the moment, it would be better if the Greeks pay off their debt as much as they can via privatisation," says Dereník.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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