(Reuters) -
Greece is locked in tough negotiations with its foreign lenders, with
"nerves stretched" on both sides, the finance minister warned on
Tuesday, raising the temperature as Athens tries to exit an unpopular bailout
program.
"We are in a tough phase," Finance
Minister Gikas Hardouvelis said during a meeting with Greek President Karolos
Papoulias. "In this interim period, nerves are stretched on all sides.
It's not just us, it's also on the side of the lenders."
The two sides are mainly at odds over the
projected size of a budget gap for 2015, a senior Greek government official
told Reuters. The lenders argue the government's plan to let Greeks repay
arrears to the state in 100 instalments would widen this gap, two government
officials said.
Athens agreed to remove a contentious real
estate tax from the plan, but lenders are pressing for more changes, they said.
The lenders estimate that the 2015 fiscal
gap will hit about 2.5 billion euros ($3.1 billion) unless the plan is changed,
one of the government officials said. Athens, which is due to present its final
budget in parliament this week, predicts a fiscal gap of less than 1 billion
euros next year.
"I believe that a solution will be
found," said the senior government official. "Time will be tight if
(the EU/IMF inspectors) don't return to Athens by next week."
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras wants to exit
the current EU/IMF bailout one year ahead of schedule to appease austerity-hit
Greeks, who have felt the pain of a deep recession. Data showed last week that
Greece emerged from the slump this year.
But the coalition government is walking a
tightrope due to a presidential vote in February, which could trigger snap
elections and bring the anti-bailout Syriza party to power.
Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos
maintained a defiant tone, saying Athens would not change its budget plans,
despite the skepticism from EU/IMF lenders.
"We are not going to back down on any
issue," Venizelos said, adding Athens would pursue reforms without
austerity.
(Πηγή: Reuters)