Gov't shifts focus to funding needs after list approved

 Creditors clear reforms with some caveats

The government on Tuesday shifted its focus to the pressing matter of tackling immediate funding needs after the country?s international creditors provisionally approved a list of economic reforms proposed by the Greek authorities albeit with some concerns.

In comments to reporters after the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund gave their approval Tuesday, a Finance Ministry official said Greece had gained ?a few weeks? of breathing space and that the pressure was now on authorities to ?outdo? themselves in enforcing the proposed reforms. A more pressing matter, however, is Greece?s funding needs, an estimated 7.3 billion euros for March alone. The official said talks on the funding gap would begin immediately. Officials are hoping to issue treasury bills to help raise revenue but for this they need the approval of the ECB. The government could also tap the leftover cash reserves of state bodies or stop paying its suppliers, adding to existing debts.

Meanwhile the government still has much to do to convince its creditors that it can deliver substantial economic reforms.

?We call on the Greek authorities to further develop and broaden the list of reform measures,? Eurogroup leader Jeroen Dijsselbloem said Tuesday. Dijsselbloem urged Greece to move quickly on updating and enforcing its reform proposals over the four-month extension of the country?s bailout, which was essentially rubber-stamped Tuesday.

The IMF appeared less optimistic with the Fund?s Managing Director Christine Lagarde noting in a letter to Dijsselbloem that the Greek proposal ?is not conveying clear assurances that the government intends to undertake the reforms envisaged? in a number of...