Samaras to meet troika before US trip on Saturday
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is due to meet troika representatives on Saturday before heading to the USA, where he will hold talks with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, Kathimerini understands.
By Saturday, troika inspectors will have finished their first round of meetings with ministry officials and should be ready to discuss with the premier what actions remain before Greece is in a position to receive its next bailout tranche of 1 billion euros.
The decision to release the latest loan installment is due to be taken at a meeting of the Eurogroup on October 14.
The Greek side does not envisage any major problems before then and is more concerned about the discussions that will take place after that regarding the future of the Greek program, which runs until next summer, and what amount of further funding will be required.
This is an issue that Samaras hopes to take up with Lagarde when the pair meet in the USA. The Greek prime minister is due to hold talks with the IMF chief in Washington on October 1.
At the moment, there is some distance between Greece and its lenders in terms of agreeing on how much financing Greece will need next year and in 2015, with Athens reluctant to adopt any more austerity measures this year or next due to concerns about the political impact of such a move.
