The Greek government and its creditors agreed on the primary budget targets for Greece for 2015-2018 said government sources early on Tuesday morning. The meeting was completed after 17 hours since it began at 10.30 a.m. on Monday with just a brief break to update the cabinet at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
The primary budget targets agreed to by both sides are the following:
2015 – primary deficit -0.25% of the GDP
2016 – primary surplus of 0.5%of the GDP
2017 – primary surplus of 1.75% of the GDP
2018 – primary surplus of 3.5% of the GDP
The same sources indicated that there would be no new reforms in relation to fiscal targets for 2015 and 2016. They also stated that both Greece and its creditors (EC, ECB, ESM and IMF) have compromised on the so-called “thorny” issues of the negotiations – include non-performing “red” loans, a privatization fund and the deregulation of the energy market.
Greece will now receive a new bailout loan from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) worth 50-52 bln euros and another 34-40 bln euros to cover its fiscal needs for the next three-year period from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as well as revenue from privatizations and money yielded from Greece’s return to markets.