Week of checks on economy begins
The government?s handling of the Greek economy and the structural reforms it has agreed with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund are to come under scrutiny this week as officials from abroad will conduct a number of checks.
Representatives of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are due in Athens on Monday to begin their assessment of the Greek economy.
The team representing the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the IMF, led by Poul Thomsen, is expected in Athens this coming weekend to conduct its own checks.
The quarterly monitoring of Greece?s fiscal efforts will determine whether the fourth instalment of loans from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, set for March and amounting to 15 billion euros, will be disbursed.
The visit of the EU-IMF team will also include negotiations about the terms of a further 12.8 billion euros in loans to be received between 2012 and 2014.
In an interview with Ta Nea newspaper, Finance Minister Giorgos Papaconstantinou said that the government will have to reexamine its social spending program as part of the deal to receive the loans.
