The next day for the economy after supervision

By Tasos Dasopoulos

After the end of the IMF’s era as a public lender, Greece is expected to complete in a few months the period of strict three-month supervision, which was applied especially for Greece after the completion of the third rescue program.

Today, the financial staff is expected to make a final contact with the heads of the institutions’ teams. The aim is to review which commitments have now been completed, which are expected to be completed by July and which will be monitored after the end of enhanced supervision. According to information, the three main issues that will continue to be monitored in the rest of the post-memorandum supervision are:

The course of fiscal adjustment, following the increase in debt and deficit brought about by the two-year coronavirus pandemic. Until the changes in the Stability and Growth Pact are finalized, Greece will be considered based on the goals it sets in its budgets, starting in 2022.

– The second issue that will continue to occupy the post-memorandum evaluation of Greece is the continuation of the consolidation of the financial sector. This chapter includes the full operation of the out-of-court mechanism and debt settlement and the new bankruptcy code, the adjudication of the 30,000 pending applications of the Katselis law, the promotion of electronic auctions and finally the reduction of the percentage of red loans to single-digit European average.

– The third high priority issue is the minimization of overdue public debts to individuals. Following the acceleration of the settlement of debts to suppliers and the smooth implementation of the clawback, the institutions are waiting to see the operation of the mechanism that will prevent the accumulation of new overdue debts. The second part of public debt concerns arrears of pensions. If the target for late payment by July is finally met, the progress of applications and pensions will be monitored to further reduce the waiting time for old and new retirees.

The individual issues

In addition to the three key issues, a number of individual commitments need to be made, the completion of which has been delayed, mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic. In this category are:

– The acceleration of changes in primary health care and the completion of the TOMY network. Also, the effort for uniform supplies for the NSS and its units should be completed.

Completion of changes in the judiciary, including the digitization and electronic management of petitions. The same dossier also includes the pending new code for the organization of Justice, the required secondary legislation for the operation of the JustStat unit of the Ministry of Justice.

– The creation of a new payroll in the State with a timetable for its implementation and the creation of a relevant single digital portal gov.gr.

– The completion of the supply and the full operation of the upgraded system of control, management and collection of revenues (Eispraxis) by AADE.

– The completion of the reform of disability benefits by the Ministry of Labor.

Installments from bond profits

At the same time, today is expected to finalize the schedule for the payment of the last two installments of Greek bond profits, which the ECB and other central banks have been holding in their portfolios since 2010. As it is known, these profits came from the fact that the bonds of the Central Banks did not participate in the PSI and were not refinanced all this time with others, which would have a lower coupon. The two installments, amounting to about 640m euros each, based on the discussions that have taken place so far, will not be given together. Most likely, it will be agreed to give one with the positive report of the 14th evaluation in a row that is completed today and a second at the end of the year, so that Greece has completed the first six-month evaluation.