Greece, Troika to Lower Privatisation Targets

Greece, Troika to Lower Privatisation Targets
Reuters
Τρι, 23 Οκτωβρίου 2012 - 16:48
Greece and its international lenders may agree to lower the country's privatisation targets for the next three years, newspaper Kathimerini reported on Tuesday, citing a draft document.

Greece  and its international lenders may agree to lower the country's privatisation targets for the next three years, newspaper Kathimerini reported on Tuesday, citing a draft document.

Greece will have to raise 8.8 billion euros ($11.5 billion) from asset sales and leases by the end of 2015, the newspaper said. This is less than the 19 billion euros the country was supposed to raise in the same period under the current terms of its EU/IMF bailout.

 long-term target to generate privatisation revenues of 50 billion euros is maintained but pushed back beyond that deadline, the newspaper reported.

"We expect that it will take more time to achieve the 50 billion euro target," Kathimerini said, citing a draft agreement between Athens and its lenders.

Sales of state assets are a key part of Greek efforts to pay down debt and pull back from the verge of bankruptcy. But Greece has already missed several revenue targets, having raised only about 1.6 billion euros in cash since its first bailout in May 2010.

The lack of progress stems from the reluctance of Greek governments to sell, political instability and the lack of investor interest in a country facing a grim economic future and the threat of an exit from the euro.

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