IMF Wants Dismissals in Public Sector

IMF (credit: Wikipedia)

The International Monetary Fund is openly demanding for targetted dismissals in the public sector and further cuts in social benefits (such as unemployment benefit, supplementary pension, child benefits, etc), but at the same the IMF emphatically demands a fundamental tackling of tax evasion warning that instead there will be new cuts in wages and pensions.

In its report on the Greek economy, published on Friday, the IMF also asks for extending a solidarity tax surcharge beyond 2014, accelerating a privatization program –even with replacing the management of Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund with foreign managers if the fund failed to achieve its targets for the first half of 2013.

The IMF sounded pessimistic over unemployment trends –expected to rise to 24.4 pct in 2013 and to 25.1 pct in 2014, while it also insisted on its position for a new haircut of the Greek debt held by the official sector in Europe.

At the same time, the IMF openly tangles in the Greek political scene, suggesting that increasing support for SYRIZA and other counter-memorandum parties could lead not only to delays in implementing the program but a political crisis in the country, triggering a default and/or an exit from the euro. The Washington-based fund, however, is making some self-criticism, saying that another risk for the program was a failure in meeting its analysts' calculations over the impact of austerity in economic recession in the country. (AMNA)