Greece’s government said on Tuesday it would soon legislate austerity measures agreed with foreign creditors for 2019-20 but their implementation depends on further debt relief after its current bailout, the third since 2010.Representatives from Greece’s European Union and International Monetary Fund lenders will return to Athens after the IMF Spring Meetings on April 21-23 to finalise a deal on the extra bailout reforms, spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said.

 

Euro zone finance ministers, the so-called Eurogroup, must then approve the measures and outline debt relief to be implemented after August 2018, when Greece’s current bailout expires, Tzanakopoulos said.

“After the spring meetings, the lenders’ technical teams will return (to Athens). The mission chiefs will decide the prior actions for the conclusion of the bailout review, and as you know the prior actions are legislated before the meeting of euro zone finance ministers,” he said.

“But what we insist on is that these measures … will be implemented on condition that the Eurogroup will define the medium-term debt relief measures.”

Athens last week agreed to additional austerity measures to persuade the IMF to participate in the 86 billion-euro bailout, after months of wrangling that revived fears of a new crisis in the euro zone.

A conclusion of the negotiations, as part of the second review of Greece’s bailout progress, will unlock vital loans needed by Athens to make debt repayments in July.

The leftist-led government has agreed to cut pensions by one percent of gross domestic product in 2019 and to tax reforms in 2020 to generate additional revenue equal to another one percent.

Lenders have agreed that if budget savings targets are exceeded, Athens will be allowed to implement relief measures to boost the economy.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras hopes that a comprehensive deal, including further debt relief, will pave the way for Greece’s inclusion in the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing programme, helping the country return to bond markets.

Source: Reuters (Reporting by Renee Maltezou; editing by Andrew Roche)