Wednesday, April 29, 2015

A Damning Report --- But Not From The 'Institutions'!

"In short, the fiscal adjustment which is being attempted is an idiosyncratic mix of new taxes, new spending and institutional changes and, to a large degree  announcements of often contradictory planned changes. For certain measures (eg debt restructuring via 100 instalments) the long-term consequences are undetermined. Despite the short-term benefit, this mix increases the uncertainty which characterizes the present situation.”

"On the side of spending there is a lack of clarity with regards to its development. Different announcements take place disjointedly. The lack of clarity arises from the fact that many of the measures that have been announced have not been legislated for, but also from the disjointed character of many announcements which do not create the sense of a continuous and stable plan. The level of spending and, mainly, the trajectory of different allocations depend on the measures which have already been decided or announced and create new spending: the new defense procurements, the reinstatement of the 13th pension payment to low income pensioners, the elimination of the zero-deficit clause in social security funds, the emergency assistance to the Hellenic Sugar Company, etc."

"The pro's and con's of every one of these measures can be debated, but all together they do not form a plan for growth, nor is it cflear how they will be ultimately funded, despite the optimism of the 'working text' for tax revenues of 4,7 to 6,1 billion euros, nor ultimately are they based on data-backed analysis of indirect, long-term consequences on the behaviours and expectations of citizens." 

This is not coming from the Institutions (formerly Troika). Instead, it comes from the Greek Parliament's Budget Office and it was reported in the THETOC-website.

2 comments:

  1. Well, what did you really expect from this unsavoury mixture of neo-marxists, paleo-communists, Pasok-unionists and almost lunatic utlranationalists, when you have a Syriza MP by now talking about the "leninistic duties of the left" (Agiaia Kyritsi).

    Just one another folly: Transactions over 70 € on lager islands credit cards only. Totally unworkable! Such ideas are just another shot into the own foot.

    The only thing this government is interesting in is finding outside sources of money. There is no and has never been a development plan for economic growth.

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    1. To be fair, you have to admit that exactly the same is true for all governments of the last 30 years - at least. The only difference today: No "magic" well of money.

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