Economy Minister Stathakis says Greece unable to raise 15bln Euros from privatisations

Minister says debt relief not on agenda with creditors

Greek Minister for Economy George Stathakis projected that only 6-7bln Euros from the 15bln target could be raised by the Greek state from privatisations, in an interview to German newspaper ‘Tagespiegel’, Tuesday in Berlin. Stathakis said that any talks of a haircut on the Greek debt were not on the immediate agenda with the country’s creditors, a position contradicting the government’s official narrative. Another point he raised in the interview, which also goes against the Greek government public rhetoric was that he believed the servicing of the debt was sustainable till 2022. ‘Ongoing talks should be completed and depending on their outcome, a decision on whether the IMF should stay on board must lie solely on the Fund itself’, he said. Stathakis added that the Greek government was striving to reach an agreement until before the next Eurogroup meeting at the end of April. He predicted that if a deal was reached on the review of the Greek program this could lead to growth in the second quarter of 2016. The Minister made reference of the great efforts under way by the state in conjunction with its creditors to implement reforms in the country to protect the weaker economic groups.