Reuters — A European Central Bank official commenting on remarks made by a Greek central bank official earlier in the day, denied that it supports a lower fiscal target for Greece after 2018.
Greece has agreed to achieve a primary surplus – which excludes the cost of servicing debt – of 3.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2018. It wants to reduce its bailout target to 2.5 percent in 2019 and 2 percent in 2020.
The Greek official told reporters earlier that “the ECB is 100 percent with us … but it’s up to the Eurogroup to decide”.
The ECB official responded: “It is not correct to say that the ECB supports a lower fiscal target for Greece after 2018.”
“There first needs to be a discussion among the four institutions and the Eurogroup within the framework of the Eurogroup statement of 24/5,” the official said referring to the ECB, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Stability Mechanism.
Under the terms of its third international bailout, Athens needs to achieve a primary surplus of 0.5 percent of GDP in 2017. But it says that retaining high surpluses in the medium and long term is unrealistic, echoing the IMF on this issue.
