Greece to seek amended fiscal targets after 2020

The government is seeking to ride the new momentum created by the health crisis in Europe, at the expense of the once unique recipe of austerity, while the first-quarter fiscal data compiled by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) indicated an annual deterioration of 1.3 billion euros.

Finance Minister Christos Staikouras told CNBC on Tuesday that Athens intends to negotiate the primary budget surplus targets for 2021 and 2022 in the context of the Eurogroup. That target has been abandoned for this year.

"Taking into account the recent Eurogroup decisions," Staikouras stated, "these targets do not exist for 2020 and we will discuss with the finance ministers the targets and requirements from 2021, considering also the tackling of the coronavirus crisis."

This year's fiscal performance has already started pointing to primary deficits: The PBO estimated this...