Reuters
May 18, 2011
The International Monetary Fund warned on Wednesday that Greece’s drive to shore up its troubled finances would fail unless it sharply accelerated its economic overhaul, and the European Central Bank hit back at suggestions that a debt restructuring might be the solution.
European finance ministers broke a taboo this week and acknowledged for the first time that some form of restructuring might be required to ease Greece’s debt burden, which at 150 percent of annual output is among the highest in the world.
They have said they could ask private creditors to agree to a voluntary extension of the maturities on their Greek debt but have also made clear that the priority is to ensure an acceleration of economic measures.
“The program will not remain on track without a determined reinvigoration of structural reforms in the coming months,” Poul Thomsen, an I.M.F. envoy who is monitoring Greece’s progress, told a conference in Lagonisi, near Athens.
“Unless we see this invigoration, I think the program will run off track,” he said, in one of the strongest warnings to Greece since it sealed the rescue one year ago.
More
No comments:
Post a Comment