Frangiskos Koutentakis

Parliament's Budget Office (PBO) said on Thursday in its report for the fourth quarter of 2019 that the achievement of the primary surplus target of 3.5 percent of gross domestic product is secured, as the Greek economy has proved its resilience despite last year's significant tax breaks.

Overdue arrears to the tax authorities posted a significant slowdown in the nine months to end-August, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).

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.

It would be wrong for the Greek government to unilaterally suspend the pension cuts it has told its creditors it will carry out in 2019, as that would send the wrong message to international markets, the head of the Parliament's budget office, Frangiskos Koutentakis, told Skai TV on Saturday.

The prime minister may be raising the stakes in the clash with opposition parties, while the government still hasn't revealed its "holistic" master plan for growth, but the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) on Monday called for a minimum consensus on a long-term strategic plan that would exceed the mandate of one government, as it states.

As leftist SYRIZA finds itself slipping ever further in opinion polls, the governing party is making efforts to install its representatives across the state apparatus and is expected to change the electoral law ahead of local authority elections next year, Kathimerini understands. 

House Speaker Nikos Voutsis's decision to appoint a senior official of the ruling SYRIZA party as the the coordinator of the Parliament's budget office (PBO) has sparked an uproar among lawmakers, with opposition parties accusing the government of compromising the notions of meritocracy and legality.

Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos appointed Frangiskos Koutentakis as the new General Secretary of Fiscal Policy, according to the ministry statement.

Petros Triarchis was appointed as new head of the General Secretariat for Information Systems.