Troika said to estimate Greece budget gap at $26B

Πηγή: Market Watch
Sept 23 2012

Greece faces a budget shortfall of about 20 billion euros ($26 billion) to satisfy international conditions for emergency aid, almost double previous estimates, German magazine Der Spiegel reported Sunday, citing preliminary findings by the so-called Troika that consists of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.

The country can only receive the next tranche of financial aid from its international creditors once its budget gap is closed.

Euro-zone officials admit that the EUR173 billion bailout plan agreed with Athens in March--Greece's second bailout since 2010--is already badly off track. Greece has been waiting since June for its next aid slice of that package--a EUR31 billion payment from the euro-zone bailout fund and the IMF--as the country's recession cuts deeper and longer than forecast.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has asked a number of times whether Greece's public creditors--which include the ECB--would be willing to write off part of the country's debts, Der Spiegel reported, without disclosing its sources.

Meanwhile, a dispute has broken out between Germany's government and the European Commission over when to vote on whether to give Greece more financial aid, Der Spiegel reported.

While the European Commission wants to decide on the matter at the European Council in mid-October, Berlin thinks reliable numbers will only be available by November at the earliest, the magazine reported.

Editor's note: The report was denied by Greece's finance ministry. See: Greece Denies Reports of E20 Billion Budget Gap.