Finance Minister Yiorgos Papakonstantinou, according to reports, stressed at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, where he provided a briefing on the "Middle Term Fiscal Strategy Plan", that the main target is for the deficit to decrease from
17 billion euros that it will be at the end of 2011 to three bilion euros about the end of 2015. The Finance minister also said that the Memorandum will end in 2013, the government wants to plan moves after this as well, so that with the creation of the first stage surplus the decrease in the debt to begin as of 2014. According to the same reports, Papakonstantinou mentioned that the decrease in the deficit will be apportioned so that 2/3 of the target shall be achieved through the curbing of expenditures and the 1/3 through an increase in revenues, while ruling out salary and pension cutbacks and an increase in VAT.
The "Middle Term Fiscal Strategy Plan" will take on the form of a law with the relevant bill coming to Parliament in May and being ratified by June, while as the minister said a similar three-year programme will be coming to Parliament every summer that will be updated.
source: ANA
