ATHENS: The Greece government is willing to accept a higher primary surplus target for this year to meet one of its creditors’ demands, a senior government official said ahead of a crucial meeting Wednesday among the leaders of Greece, Germany and France.
“The Greek government is willing to accept a target for primary surplus of 1% for gross domestic product under conditions,” the Greek official said.
Earlier this week, the government in Athens sent an updated draft with economic overhauls that the government was willing to accept to unlock much-needed aid. That draft called for primary surpluses–the excess of revenues over expenditures before interest payments are made–of 0.75% of gross domestic product in 2015, 1.75% in 2016, and 2.5% in 2017.
But those targets were lower than the targets presented to Greece last week in a new proposal from the commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF, the three institutions representing Greece’s creditors. The creditors’ proposal called for primary surpluses of 1% in 2015, 2% in 2016 and 3% in 2017.
Weeks of negotiations and several high-level political meetings have brought the two sides closer together on some of the terms for unlocking urgently needed aid for Athens. But the back-and-forth makes clear that fundamental differences remain over how to prevent Greece from defaulting on its debt and possibly leaving the eurozone.
