ATHENS — IMF and EU auditors arrived in Athens on Tuesday to audit state finances and progress on bailout conditions, finance ministry sources said, as the new government warned that a bad recession had turned worse.
The audit by inspectors from the EU, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund is expected to take weeks and comes as Greece’s new conservative government takes the full reins of power after winning elections on June 17.
Since the election, the coalition led by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has has been stuck in limbo, hit by health problems and surprise resignations. The new finance minister Yannis Stournaras is expected to be sworn in on Thursday.
But the man already installed as deputy finance minister warned that the already battered Greek economy would contract by 6.7% in 2012 compared with an earlier forecast of 4.5%.
Greece suffered an economic contraction of 6.9% in 2011 and is now in its fifth year of recession.
“The economic situation is critical,” Christos Staikouras said citing alarming figures from recently released data by the state-run Centre of Planning and Economic Research (KEPE).
The disastrous data will certainly be part of the case put to the EU and IMF as auditors of the so-called troika review ministry books over the next few weeks. The heads of the troika mission arrive on Wednesday.
Financial Post
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