Finance Ministry: Possibility for tax reductions in the Fall

It will be tabled during future talks with the Troika

The issue of alleviating fiscal austerity is possibly going to be discussed in the Fall.

“The achievement of budgetary targets enables discussions for reduction of taxation”, noted a senior Finance Ministry member despite the fact that the objectives of primary surpluses have been identified as particularly ambitious by the Budget Office of the House.

According to the same individual, there has yet to be a discussion on the level of primary surpluses over the next two years, all will be taken into account when new data is tabled, and particularly all of the benefits from the early exit to markets, exceeding budgetary targets in the years of 2013-2014 and decisions that have already been taken by partners to further reduce the country’s debt.

As Finance Ministry officials state, the issuance of a 5-year bond and especially the second issuance, which -if no problems occur- will occur by the end of this year,  does not invalidate the design of the baseline scenario for debt sustainability.

Given that any additional interest expense is “covered” by the benefits resulting from debt reduction, but also through the improvement of the climate which in turn positively affects the GDP rate.

According to economic factors, the design of the Finance Ministry is supported currently by the implementation of the budget, which, in the first quarter of this year showed a primary surprlus of 1.05 billion, or about 300 million over the objective.