“In short term, the Primary Surplus 3,5% of GDP might be achievable with heroic efforts by the Greek people, but it is highly unrealistic that it can by maintained on long term,” Managing Director of International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde said during her press conference in Washington at the Spring Meeting between the IMF and the World Bank.
Repliying to questions also by Greek correspondents, Lagarde stressed:
“I have been saying that the Greek Program should stand on two legs but I would also add that has to be realistic and sustainable.”
“Last thing Greece needs now is delays. Greek review should not delay and that realistic measures must be take.”
She also pointed out that Greece needed “stability, sustainability and sovereignty” and that is why there have to be made realistic assumptions to the macroeconomic indicators, the kinds of measures.
She stressed that the Debt required a solution that would respect both the maturity of the bonds and the interest rates. She reiterated the known position of the IMF on the need for a two-pillar design to support the Greek program, namely reforms and debt relief.
PS Greece has run out of heroes even for short-term targets – is Lagarde suddenly our “friend”? lol I just remembered the Primary surpluses of 3% of 3.5% and even 4.5% proposed by the IMF.
When I hear Lagarde say that Greece needs “stability, sustainability and sovereignty” but that it also needs a “a solution that would respect both the maturity of the bonds and the interest rates,” I fear that what Lagarde means is let’s help bring in a government in Greece (Mitsotakis) that can publicly claim it is bringing “stability, sustainability and sovereignty” to the country while simultaneously claiming it is not responsible for the previous decisions that were taken and which must be adhered to regardless to in order to “respect both the maturity of the bonds and the interest rates.”