Finally a government official admitted the obvious: that the average citizens does not see the improvements in economy as they are been recorded in spread sheets and in the upgrades of the contry’s credit ratings. Touring the island of Crete and meeting with local authorities, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said
“Some things are done, there is improvement in economy, but the citizen has not perceived them yet!”
That’s a positive and important first step… However, Tsakalotos did not go a step further and outline when and how the Greek citizen will start to feel the amazing improvements in his pockets. The Finance Minister is obviously too busy with the economic future of Greece as a country, the clean exit from the fiscal adjustment program in August, the follow up,and a credit line after the exit.
Addressing the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on Wednesday, he said he was not in favor of a credit line after August.
Referring to the measures and offset measures after the end of the programme, Tsakalotos said that it is a “fiscal neutral package.”
He explained that some small pension cuts may be included but so would significant support to families.
Regarding the country’s strategy after the end of the programme, the minister said among other things, “We have promised to present the Greek growth programme in April, after the Greek Easter. Then it will be probably discussed at the Eurogroup. We will be ready for that discussion. We are working on the programme. The first objective is not to return to the model of the period before 2008 and second to form a comprehensive programme. We must take into account the profile of Greece, namely that it has many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and a large agricultural sector.”
All these is high economics for the average Greek who struggles every month to make ends meet with money he does not have.
And will further struggle if the above mentioned “small pension cuts” go into effect in a country where almost half of the households depend on the pension of grandpa, granny or parent due to high unemployment and miserable level of wages. According to a survey, 49.2% of Greek households have a member’s pension as the sole income source.
As Tsakalotos said Greece’s Credibility improved in the last 2.5 years. Too bad, the people had to be sacrificed for this achievement.
But that was the plan from the very beginning. have the people bleed for the governments’ mismanagement.
