ATHENS, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Greece is doing well with cutting public spending but the debt-stricken country should put more effort into collecting taxes, a senior EU Commission official was quoted as saying on Saturday.
'Greece has made significant progress, especially in state budget's spending containment,' Servaas Deroose, the EU Commission's deputy director general for economic and financial affairs said in an interview published in Real News newspaper late on Saturday.
'But on the revenue side the results of the efforts to improve tax revenues' efficiency and crack down on tax evasion fall short of expectations,' he said.
Greece has taken austerity policies, including wage and pension cuts in the public sector and tax hikes, to plug its budget hole as part of a 110 billion euro bailout agreed with the EU and the IMF in May to exit from a debt crisis. But performance on revenue collection has been weak.
Deroose stressed that improving tax administration and tax-collecting mechanisms in the coming months would be decisive for the success of the Greek fiscal plan.
In a separate interview with Ethnos newspaper, an IMF spokeswoman, Simonetta Nardin, also praised the Greek cutbacks but said that the country should try to keep a tight rein on local government, hospitals and social security funds.
Addressing concerns over Greek debt restructuring, Deroose said that they were groundless.
U.S. economist Nouriel Roubini differed with Deroose, saying that Greece would finally need to restructure its debt.
'Under the best case scenario, Greece's public debt will stabilise to around 148 percent of GDP, which, in my view, is not viable and requires a restructuring,' Roubini told Kathimerini newspaper.
(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou) Keywords: GREECE EU/IMF (angeliki.koutantou@thomsonreuters.com; +30 210 3376436; Reuters Messaging: angeliki.koutantou.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
'Greece has made significant progress, especially in state budget's spending containment,' Servaas Deroose, the EU Commission's deputy director general for economic and financial affairs said in an interview published in Real News newspaper late on Saturday.
'But on the revenue side the results of the efforts to improve tax revenues' efficiency and crack down on tax evasion fall short of expectations,' he said.
Greece has taken austerity policies, including wage and pension cuts in the public sector and tax hikes, to plug its budget hole as part of a 110 billion euro bailout agreed with the EU and the IMF in May to exit from a debt crisis. But performance on revenue collection has been weak.
Deroose stressed that improving tax administration and tax-collecting mechanisms in the coming months would be decisive for the success of the Greek fiscal plan.
In a separate interview with Ethnos newspaper, an IMF spokeswoman, Simonetta Nardin, also praised the Greek cutbacks but said that the country should try to keep a tight rein on local government, hospitals and social security funds.
Addressing concerns over Greek debt restructuring, Deroose said that they were groundless.
U.S. economist Nouriel Roubini differed with Deroose, saying that Greece would finally need to restructure its debt.
'Under the best case scenario, Greece's public debt will stabilise to around 148 percent of GDP, which, in my view, is not viable and requires a restructuring,' Roubini told Kathimerini newspaper.
(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou) Keywords: GREECE EU/IMF (angeliki.koutantou@thomsonreuters.com; +30 210 3376436; Reuters Messaging: angeliki.koutantou.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.