As reported by Greek City Times yesterday, Greece’s Parliamentary Budget Office submitted an optimistic report about country exiting the crisis due to improving economic indicators.
However, the PBO came under criticism only moments later for mistakes in the quarterly report with Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos admitting that the estimates were wrong because they were based on data submitted to parliament in 2014 by the National Treasury Management Agency.
"We accept the criticism levelled at the assessments of our latest report, but that does not change the essence of PBO’s point of view, which is that if there are no resulting long-term relief measures and regulations that can free the Greek state from the traps of high debt, the viability of the loan will be threatened long-term, or even prove impossible.
"As the third program (memorandum) nears its completion, this will lead to a new cycle of negotiations on public debt relief in order to render it viable, and as the issue of the debt is a national issue, it is necessary to create an environment of agreement and collaboration among all powers ‘political and technical’ in order to find the best possible solution for our country," the Parliamentary Budget Office concluded in its statement.
In its announcement, the office said:
- The data mentioned in the most recent report comprise future assessments of funding needs for the repayment of interest rates during the 2020-2026 period, and were based on official data filed at the Hellenic Parliament in 2014.
- The abovementioned assessments did not include the debt relief that results from short- or medium-term agreements, which may possibly exist in updated briefings but were not available to the office during the drafting of its current quarterly report.”
