Greece and its European creditors are “very close” to an agreement that would open the way to vital debt talks, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs Pierre Moscovici said on Monday.
However, first the Greek government had to complete an ongoing audit of its latest fiscal reforms to enable a “package deal” on further structural changes and debt talks, Moscovici said on a two-day visit to Athens.
“I think we are very close to an agreement ... if we are capable of concluding the review, then we must absolutely open ... debt talks,” he told Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
Photo: Reuters
“It cannot be done ... in just one meeting, but [there needs to be] a sequence, which Monday next week at which the debt issue is expected to be discussed.
“We need to reach a staff-level agreement by the end of this week ... it’s absolutely doable,” Moscovici then told reporters.
Greece’s budget for next year, to be approved by parliament on Saturday next week, includes extra taxation on cars, fixed telephony, pay television, fuel, tobacco, coffee and beer.
Greece’s leftist-led government is desperate to reach agreement with the creditors on the new fiscal measures before the end of the year in order to secure a pledge of debt relief, hoping it will kick-start the nation’s ailing economy.
Athens is also hoping that a deal will persuade the European Central Bank to include Greek sovereign debt in its asset purchase program, known as quantitative easing or QE.
Without debt relief, the ECB will not grant Greece access to QE, and without this, the country will not be able to return to borrowing markets by early 2018, Greek Minister of Finance Euclid Tsakalotos said on Monday.
Greece’s debt will grow to 315 billion euros (US$334 billion) or about 180 percent of output this year, according to the Greek Ministry of Finance.
ECB executive board member Benoit Coeure, who is also in Athens, on Monday said that there were “serious concerns” about the sustainability of Greece’s crushing debt.
“All stakeholders in the Greek adjustment program realize that there are serious concerns about the sustainability of Greek public debt,” Coeure told an Athens conference.
“We are looking forward to a solution that can reassure markets,” he said, one that would “allow the full involvement of the IMF in the program [to] enhance the program’s credibility.”
The goal is to “ultimately restore market access for Greece before the [present EU bailout] ends in July 2018,” Coeure said.
COMPETITION: AMD, Intel and Qualcomm are unveiling new laptop and desktop parts in Las Vegas, arguing their technologies provide the best performance for AI workloads Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), the second-biggest maker of computer processors, said its chips are to be used by Dell Technologies Inc for the first time in PCs sold to businesses. The chipmaker unveiled new processors it says would make AMD-based PCs the best at running artificial intelligence (AI) software. Dell has decided to use the chips in some of its computers aimed at business customers, AMD executives said at CES in Las Vegas on Monday. Dell’s embrace of AMD for corporate PCs — it already uses the chipmaker for consumer devices — is another blow for Intel Corp as the company
STIMULUS PLANS: An official said that China would increase funding from special treasury bonds and expand another program focused on key strategic sectors China is to sharply increase funding from ultra-long treasury bonds this year to spur business investment and consumer-boosting initiatives, a state planner official told a news conference yesterday, as Beijing cranks up fiscal stimulus to revitalize its faltering economy. Special treasury bonds would be used to fund large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins, said Yuan Da (袁達), deputy secretary-general of the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission. “The size of ultra-long special government bond funds will be sharply increased this year to intensify and expand the implementation of the two new initiatives,” Yuan said. Under the program launched last year, consumers can
TECH PULL: Electronics heavyweights also attracted strong buying ahead of the CES, analysts said. Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed amid Trump’s incoming presidency Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares yesterday closed at a new high in the wake of a rally among tech stocks on Wall Street on Friday, moving the TAIEX sharply higher by more than 600 points. TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock in the TAIEX, rose 4.65 percent to close at a new high of NT$1,125, boosting its market value to NT$29.17 trillion (US$888 billion) and contributing about 400 points to the TAIEX’s rise. The TAIEX ended up 639.41 points, or 2.79 percent, at 23,547.71. Turnover totaled NT$406.478 billion, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. The surge in TSMC follows a positive performance
FUTURE TECH: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang would give the keynote speech at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, which is also expected to highlight autonomous vehicles Gadgets, robots and vehicles imbued with artificial intelligence (AI) would once again vie for attention at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week, as vendors behind the scenes would seek ways to deal with tariffs threatened by US president-elect Donald Trump. The annual Consumer Electronics Show opens formally in Las Vegas tomorrow, but preceding days are packed with product announcements. AI would be a major theme of the show, along with autonomous vehicles ranging from tractors and boats to lawn mowers and golf club trollies. “Everybody is going to be talking about AI,” Creative Strategies Inc analyst Carolina Milanesi said. “From fridges to ovens
RSS