‘Still more work’ needed by Greece to make economy resilient, says Regling
Greece has succeeded in consolidating fiscal deficits and implemented reforms, but it still needs to do “more work” to strengthen its economy, the head of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), Klaus Regling, said in an interview with Spanish newspaper Cinco Dias, published on Thursday.
“There is still more work to be done to make the economy resilient. We very much hope the Greek government will continue the reform agenda of the last years in order to strengthen growth and employment, taking down unemployment rates,” he said.
Commenting on Greece’s ongoing fourth program review, Regling said the Eurogroup meeting held on Thursday will discuss the status of the review and decide on further steps towards its completion.
“Our final disbursement to Greece will depend on that, the review will have to be concluded successfully. A long list of reforms will have to be implemented,” he said.
“We are now discussing additional debt relief. We are not at the end of that process. But I am confident that if Greece keeps up with the reforms, the finance ministers will come to some conclusions on additional debt relief either in June or July,” he said.
On Thursday, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, will brief eurozone finance ministers about the review and the institutions will present the staff-level agreement concluded on 19 May.
Greece aims to implement the required measures before the Eurogroup meeting on 21 June 2018. The program's formal expiry date is 20 August.
