Financial crises

Economy Minister Giorgos Stathakis will discuss the issue of “red loans”, the non-performing loans and indebted households, in a meeting with the representatives of the three institutions on Thursday.

The heads of institutions are currently in Athens to discuss the progress of the implementation of the Greek program.

The omnibus bill of austerity measures was voted by 154 MPs at dawn on Saturday following a week of debates, but the hard part begins this week as harsh laws aimed at slashing the funds of Greek households so as to line state coffers are put in place. Here are some of the changes that have been voted on and need to be implemented immediately:

The omnibus bill which includes the austerity measures agreed with Greece’s creditors was voted during yesterday’s plenary session.

The Greek government is due to vote on the omnibus draft bill on prior actions that the country is obliged to implement as part of the bailout deal. Greek lawmakers are set to vote on the bill on Friday after heated debate. The implementation of the reforms will release about 2 billion euros worth of bailout money benchmarked for Greece.

During IMF-World Bank meeting in Lima, Peru Christine Lagarde was asked about the Greek debt and IMF’s view on whether it is sustainable or not.

Mrs. Lagarde reiterated that the debt of Greece is not sustainable and that the position of IMF regarding Greece’s debt sustainability has not changed since last July, when it published its latest sustainability report.

Greece’s recession is predicted to be at 1.5% in 2015 instead of 2.5%, said Economy Minister George Stathakis when addressing Greek Parliament in a debate on the government policies on Wednesday. He argued that the lowering from 2.5% was due to the higher-than-anticipated revenue from tourism and the less-than-expected repercussions from capital controls.

The list of the measures to be implemented is going to be approved today at Euroworking Group which is conducted via teleconference.

Greek bank deposits rose slightly in August after a 10-month decline, according to data released from the country’s central bank.

Business and household deposits rose by 305 million euros to 121.14 billion euros compared with 120.83 billion euros in July.

A Bank of Greece official on Tuesday was quoted as saying that no new mergers of embattled Greek systemic banks is foreseen, speaking after a meeting between BoG Gov. Yannis Stournaras and caretaker FinMin Giorgos Houliarakis.

The director of the IMF’s European sector, Paul Thomsen warned that the Greek elections will delay the scheduled review for the 3rd Greek rescue plan, thus affecting the release of nearly 800mln Euros to Greece, as part of the bailout plan agreed between Greece and its creditors.