No Budget Gap, But Undone Reforms Rile Troika

The biggest obstacle for Greece to reach a deal with international lenders – a hole in the 2014 budget both sides now say isn’t there – has been resolved, but long talks were still hung up over 153 unfinished reforms, including whether to extend the shelf life of milk in supermarkets and let the stores sell non-prescription drugs, taking away a monopoly from phamarcists. The unfinished reforms are in what’s called a Toolkit and recommended by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD. The government said it would commit to only 80 percent of them but that didn’t satisfy the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB). The Troika had said there was a 2.4 billion euro ($3.3 billion) gap in the budget but it’s somehow mysteriously disappeared without an explanation and means Prime Minister Antonis Samaras can avoid new austerity measures ahead of critical May elections for Greek municipalities and the European Parliament. Talks are continuing between the government and foreign auditors on the size of last year’s primary surplus and on the proportion of this surplus to be distributed to vulnerable social groups. Samaras has pledged that 70 percent of the surplus – which the government puts at around 1.5 billion euros ($2.06 billion) – will go to low-income pensioners and members of the armed forces and the police who have seen their wages slashed. But the Troika allegedly wants some of the surplus to be set aside in case leaked court rulings ordering the reversal of mandated cuts are confirmed.

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