IMF warns Greece over sluggish reforms

The IMF yesterday warned Greece that its halting economic recovery will derail without rapid extra reforms as EU officials quibbled over how to address Athens’ huge debt.

The wake-up call came as the Greek government struggled to finalise a new austerity package and a privatisation drive of state assets calculated to bring in up to 50 billion to help restore its finances.

Yesterday, the authorities appointed a number of banks and investment advisors to help offload stakes in a number of state companies, including the lucrative gaming monopoly OPAP, one of Greece’s few profitable state firms.

Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said the roll-call would start from listed public corporations “to cut down on public debt.”

He also pledged a series of measures this year worth six billion euros to reduce the Greek deficit, which dropped off-target last year because a deeper-than-expected recession partly neutralised the austerity cuts.

“We have no doubt that we will make it,” Mr Papaconstantinou told an Economist conference at the Lagonissi coastal resort near Athens.

Taking the floor a few hours earlier, a senior International Monetary Fund official monitoring Greece’s economic recovery warned the government to speed up reforms.