State General Accounting Office

Just days before it was set to expire at the end of 2017, the suspension period of the application of the provisions regarding the capital gains tax during the transfer of ownership rights of real estate was extended to end-2018.

The government has created fresh debts in the 2015-2017 period to end up owing 4.49 billion euros from 3.8 billion in 2014, despite receiving 5.1 billion euros from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) up until last month for the precise purpose of clearing its arrears.

A draft bill outlining handouts for low-income Greeks was submitted to Parliament late Tuesday with the aim of it being approved by Thursday.

New Democracy, the country's conservative opposition, has said it will vote in favor of the bill.

State investments are being sacrificed on the altar of the government's social profile: While the government is distributing 1.4 billion euros, the Public Investments Program (PIP) has frozen, according to the budget figures issued on Tuesday by the Finance Ministry for the January-October period.

Talks between the government and the technical staff of the country's creditors began on Thursday, with the focus on fiscal, banking, labor, privatization and energy issues. The discussions will gather pace from Monday, when the chief representatives of the creditors arrive in Athens.

The government continues to run up fresh debts, creating huge problems for the market, which is struggling to cope with higher tax and social security obligations. It will also be very difficult for Athens to reach the debt repayment target that would allow for the release of the pending bailout subtranche of 800 million euros.

It is not at all certain Greece will collect the outstanding subtranche of 800 million euros from the second bailout review next month, as the progress on the repayment of state debts to third parties, which that the subtranche disbursement depends on, has been particularly slow.

Below-target revenues in the first eight months of the year have led to the creation of a 1.7-billion-euro hole in the budget, according to the State General Accounting Office, which for the first time this year has brought the primary surplus below the target of the midterm fiscal plan, albeit marginally: It amounted to 3.55 billion euros, against 3.573 billion provided for in the budget.

Officials at the State General Accounting Office are scrambling to pay off the state's dues to the private sector by the deadline, which is a necessary condition for the disbursement of the subtranche of 800 million euros by the creditors.

In the latest clash between the judiciary and the leftist-led government, the Council of State on Friday suspended a decision by the Transport Ministry to renationalize the Thessaloniki Urban Transport Organization (OASTH).

The ruling followed an appeal by shareholders in OASTH for plans to liquidate the company to be suspended.