May 2, 2011
Greece's cash-strapped government promised Monday to raise an additional euro11.8 billion ($17.5 billion) by the end of 2013 via a crackdown on tax evasion, and indicated it could seek a second extension of its bailout loan repayment.
Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou outlined the tax crackdown, which includes the appointment of a former terrorism prosecutor to the effort, a year after Greece was rescued from the brink of bankruptcy by a euro110 billion ($164 billion) bailout package from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
He also suggested Athens would welcome a second extension in the repayment schedule for the loan.
"I expressed the hope that we could have an even better arrangement regarding the repayment of the euro110 billion," Papaconstantinou said of comments he made in an interview to French newspaper Liberation.
In the interview published Monday, the minister said Athens favored that the repayment timetable "be pushed back again and that the interest rate be lowered even more.....That way, we could deal with our other deadlines."
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