The representatives of Greece’s creditors have started writing up a draft of a technical agreement, after meeting with the Greek side in Athens Tuesday. The technical group of the Troika remained in the meeting office to draft a rough copy of an initial agreement on the set of new measures the creditors demand, after the Greek delegation had departed following the completion of day one of negotiations. dome of the thorny issues that emerged from the first meeting include:
– the amount of the new austerity measures in 2019 (the staring point is expected to be 2% according to a government source). The matter whether the IMF agrees on on a cut of the 3.5% primary surplus is still unclear.
– How those 2% measures will be covered, with sources from the lenders making reference to 1% through taxes and 1% through pension cuts, while government sources were putting the figures at 0.75% from taxes and another 0.75% from pensions and 0.5% from slashing state sector spending.
– The start of the implementation of the new measures before 2019. A government source said that matter will be resolve at a technical level and will depend on how fiscal year of 2018 will be like.
The creditors’ agenda will include privatisations, energy, the tax free threshold and pensions. Talks will officially be continuing on Wednesday with the 2% measures and counter-measures Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos mentioned in Greek parliament on Tuesday. The new set of measures will also include steps toy alleviate some burden, which were not specified in any way by Mr. Tsakalotos, who made vague references to some positive ideas.