IMF to take full control of Greek GDP surplus

Creditors send draft staff level agreement to Greek government

The draft of the staff level agreement between Greece and its creditors provides that the IMF will have complete oversight of the Greek GDP surpluses, as protothema.gr is in the position to know. The agreement, which was forwarded to the Greek government, will give the Fund the capacity to control and either verify or reject data by the Greek Statistical Services (ELSTAT) regarding the course of the surplus. In light of this, the IMF will decide on whether pensions cuts equal to 1% of GDP will take effect, with subsequent countermeasures (benefits) the Greek Finance Minister alluded to during his press conference in Malta, in then event the Troika (in essence the IMF) project a primary surplus for the second term of 2018 of 3.5% of the GDP for 2018. In the event the primary surplus amounts to 2.5% of GDP for 2018 then the 1% pension cuts will take effect without countermeasures from the start of 2019, while if the primary surplus proves to be 1.5% for 2018 then apart from 1% GDP pension cuts there will also be an additional series of measures on the free tax threshold worth 1% of GDP will be enacted earlier in 2019 instead if 2020.