IMF-Europeans and Greece not confident program can deliver

Come September new measures are expected

Only two weeks have passed after a deal was reached for the completion of the first review on the Greek adjustment program, and the agreement is proving to be quite feeble, as all parties involved hold diverging opinions on the way forward. The Greek government is pushing for a promise on the part of its international creditors for some sort of debt relief, a proposal with which the IMF agrees in order to stay on the program, but the European institutions disagree with the Fund on the issue ruling out such a move at the moment. Athens might have inadvertently got a summer ‘time out’ due to the British referendum and the refugee crisis, but it looks certain that all parties will come to the table in September with all matters open for discussion, which almost definitely means more and tougher measures. One thing all three seem to be in agreement on, although to varying degrees, is that the target of the Greek economy achieving a sustained 3.5 per cent budget surplus is unfeasible. The divergence of opinions became more than evident during the Economist’s Forum, when IMF officials made clear that they believed the surplus goal was unreasonable and demanded more reforms in the Greek economy. The ESM on its part, practically ruled out any talk of a debt relief through Nicola Giammarioli, who said first Greece would have to implement all the actions it has agreed on in the program and then such a discussion would be considered.  And all this, with Greece in the middle of the dispute having to do a balancing act between implementing a program it does not believe in, while trying to find common grounds with its two lenders, who are in disagreement with each other on the key matter of the debt.