Finance Minister says Greece unlikely to need third bailout
Greek Finance Minister Filippos Sachinidis says Greece will not need a third bailout if it sticks to the terms of its second loan agreement.
Speaking to Mega TV on Wednesday morning, Sachinidis also played down the need for further fiscal measures this year.
?If we keep to the pledges we have made, we will not need a third support package and the danger of having to take new measures and make new cuts will be reduced,? he said.
?If everything goes well, we expect and hope that the country will return to growth in 2013,? added Sachinidis, who was appointed last month.
A senior finance ministry official told Kathimerini earlier this week that new measures may be needed this summer. Revenues before tax returns grew by 3.3 percent in March, according to sources, which is exclusively attributed to the restructuring of outstanding debts.
This means that last month?s revenues amounted to 3.5 billion euros, up from 3.4 billion in March 2011. If tax refunds exceed 100 million euros then the comparison year-on-year will be negative.
In a special report on Greece published on Tuesday, Fitch ratings said that despite the public sector involvement, there is still a material risk of a Greek default. It suggested that there would be no substantive recovery in the Greek economy until 2014.
Investment fund PIMCO predicted this week that Greek debt would have to undergo a second haircut.
Sachinidis added in his interview with Mega TV that Greece may sign before the elections, which are due on May 6, an agreement with Switzerland to obtain the details of Greeks who have deposited money there.
The government wants to check whether tax had been paid on this money before it was moved out of Greece.
