Debt out of control, says report
Greek public debt is running out of control and the budget is certain to miss its targets even if all measures planned are implemented in time, a report by the Parliament-based State Budget Office said on Wednesday.
?The significant further increase in the debt, the high primary deficit that in the seven-month period considerably exceeded the annual target, and the deepening of the recession have boosted the dynamics of the debt to its utmost and it is now out of control,? said the report, which took into account fiscal developments in the January-July period.
?These developments seem to largely offset the positive impact on the debt dynamics of decisions reached at the [EU] summit of July 21 [interest rate reduction by 1 percent and a rescheduling of the repayment of loans to Greece],? it added.
The authors of the report further cast doubt on the IMF?s prediction that ?the ratio of debt to GDP will reach 172 percent in 2012,? saying that a stabilization of the ratio is unlikely in view of the deepening recession.
Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, who met the team of international auditors representing Greece?s creditors yesterday, said ?we are discussing measures for stemming the recession.?
