Greece admits budget goals in trouble, denies split

ATHENS: Greece admitted yesterday its budget targets were in trouble because of a deep recession, but denied there was a split with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund over further bailout funds.

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos conceded that Greece would have to revise its public deficit target for this year, a key condition for continued funding from the ?110-billion (RM464 billion) EU-IMF bailout loan agreed last year.

"The deeper recession automatically leads to a revision of the fiscal target in relation to the deficit," he told a news conference.

Greece had pledged to reduce its deficit to 7.4 per cent this year. This is now a forlorn hope, the minister acknowledged, pointing to a recession deeper than estimates agreed in May with the EU, IMF and European Central Bank.

Venizelos said there was no truth to reports that talks between Greece and the "troika" of the EU, IMF and ECB had stalled or that credit lines to Athens were under threat. - AFP