Troika en desacuerdo sobre cómo ajustar programa griego
Genevieve Signoret & Patrick Signoret
Ayer el parlamento griego aprobó el paquete de austeridad y reformas que era prerrequisito para recibir un desembolso urgente de ayuda internacional, ocasionando violencia en las calles y debilitando la coalición gobernante. Sin embargo, la decisión sobre el desembolso no se tomará en la reunión del Eurogrupo de la próxima semana, sino probablemente hasta finales del mes (Capital.gr, Kathimerini). Peter Spiegel de FT reporta que los miembros de la troika (Comisión Europea, FMI, BCE) quieren ajustar el programa de rescate de Grecia para hacerlo sostenible antes de autorizar el siguiente desembolso, pero discrepan sobre cuánto y cómo reducir la carga de deuda (y quién absorberá las pérdidas).
Finance chiefs won’t make the call to release 31.5 billion euros ($40.1 billion) of aid for Greece that has been frozen since June when they meet in Brussels on Nov. 12, the official said today on condition of anonymity because the deliberations are private.
Ministers will await a final report from the so-called troika that oversees euro-area bailouts on Greece’s efforts to meet the conditions of its second bailout since 2010 before taking action, the official said. That report isn’t finished yet, the official said, and while a preliminary version may be available for the Nov. 12 meeting, that won’t be enough for ministers to base their decision on.
Greece is hoping that a meeting of eurozone finance ministers on November 19, or talks between European Union leaders three days later, will lead to officials agreeing to disburse the next bailout tranche of 31.5 billion euros.
Eurozone leaders face a new round of brinkmanship over Greece’s €174bn bailout after international lenders failed to bridge differences on how to reduce Athens’ burgeoning debt levels, pushing the country perilously close to defaulting on a €5bn debt payment due next week.
Officials had hoped to finalise the new programme, which extends Greece’s rescue two years to 2016, at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels on Monday. That would free up a long-delayed €31.3bn aid payment desperately sought by Athens..
But according to officials involved in negotiations, international lenders remain far apart on how much debt relief for Greece is needed and who will bear the losses from lower debt repayments.
[…] The IMF remains more pessimistic about Greece’s ability to return to economic growth, the amount it will collect in its €50bn privatisation programme, and how much money is needed to recapitalise the country’s teetering banking system.
[…] Further complicating negotiations, officials said the IMF is insisting Greek debt levels are reduced to 120 per cent of gross domestic product by 2020, while the European Commission is urging an easing of the target to about 125 per cent by 2022.
One senior official said that if negotiators are forced to accept the IMF’s stance, eurozone governments may have to take losses on their existing bailout loans, a politically explosive result that has already been rejected by Berlin and other northern eurozone countries fearful of backlash from their national parliaments.
[…] Eurozone officials had hoped that debt relief measures could be limited to a cut in interest rates on bailout loans – from 150 basis points to 80 points above interbank rates – plus giving Greece the profits earned by the ECB on their €55bn in Greek debt holdings, estimated to be between €12bn-€15bn.