Parliamentary Budget Office warns against missing tranche

Reports that the government may fail to clinch a 1-billion-euro tranche from the country's creditors next month were compounded on Tuesday with a warning from the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) concerning the completion of the second post-bailout assessment this month.

While presenting a PBO report on the Greek economy in the fourth quarter of 2018, Parliamentary Budget Office head Frangiskos Koutentakis said losing out on the tranche - part of which stems from profits from Greek bonds held by eurozone central banks - would constitute a significant source of uncertainty for the economy this year. This adds to the existing uncertainty over upcoming court decisions on retroactive payments to pensioners and civil servants that threaten further fiscal pressure.

Koutentakis said the profit payment and the waiver of the step-up interest rate margin on part of the...