Greece Won’t Meet Fiscal Surplus Targets Set By Europe, IMF Says

by Andrew Mayeda & Ian Wishart

Bloomberg
February 7, 2017

Greece is on track to fall short of budget-surplus targets set under a bailout by the nation’s euro-zone creditors, the International Monetary Fund said.

Greece’s primary budget surplus will rise to 1.5 percent over the long run from about 1 percent last year, amid a modest recovery, the IMF said Monday after executive directors met to discuss the fund’s annual assessment of the nation’s economy. Still, the projected surplus falls short of the 3.1 percent forecast by the country’s European creditors.

The fund reiterated its view that Greece’s debt is unsustainable. Most of the executive directors don’t believe the economy needs more fiscal consolidation, the IMF said.