The team will stay in Greece for about two weeks during which it will monitor the country’s finances. During the standard media briefing in Washington, Rice said that currently the IMF is focusing on the third evaluation of the Greek programme and the country’s commitment on its prerequisites, Reuters informs.

He reiterated the need to reduce the Greek debt by saying that a new reduction is required to keep the program from derailing. “Our estimates show that it will take a further easing of the Greek debt to achieve the objectives of the programme,” Rice said.

However, he added that he does not expect any further discussions on the participation of the official sector “at this stage” and denied that the IMF will accept a haircut on the loans it has given to Greece.

“The Greek economy is entering a new phase. The programme is on the right track. The recovery is expected to begin next year with positive indicators from quarter to quarter,” Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said inter alia at the conference organized by the Bank of Greece entitled “The crisis in the Euro-Area,” presenting the 10 economic policy points implemented by Greece.

According to tovima.gr, Stournaras also said that so far the country has carried out two thirds of the required fiscal adjustment for the period 2010 – 2016, it has achieved the required adjustment on competitiveness, but the whole procedure will take patience and dedication.

“Doomsday prophets have been dashed. Greece remains in the Eurozone, while confidence in the country is rapidly restored. The main objective now is to achieve a primary surplus in order to invoke the clause agreed at the Eurogroup in November for a drastic reduction of the state debt. This will strengthen the positive climate and accelerate our exit from the crisis.”

He added that the completion of the recapitalization of banks is necessary to restore the flow of credit.

“Greece is making progress in overcoming deep-seated problems in the midst of a very serious and socially painful recession. The adjustment challenges facing Greece in 2010 were daunting,” the IMF said.

“However, insufficient structural reforms have meant that the adjustment has been achieved primarily through recessionary channels, with unequal distribution of the burden of adjustment. Three problems stand out:

- Very little progress has been made in tackling Greece’s notorious tax evasion. The rich and self-employed are simply not paying their fair share, which has forced an excessive reliance on across the- board expenditure cuts and higher taxes on those earning a salary or a pension.

- While labour market reforms are causing a notable decline in nominal wages, this has only to a very limited degree been reflected in lower prices, because of failure to liberalize closed professions and more generally open up to competition. This is another reason for why too much of the burden has so far fallen on those earning wages and pensions.

- While the rebalancing of the economy has been associated with a surge in unemployment in the private sector, not least among the young, the over-staffed public sector has been spared, because of a taboo against dismissals,” IMF added.

Parliament passed last week the omnibus bill of measures agreed with troika inspectors by 168 votes to 123, opening the door for the first wave of public sector layoffs and settlement of €8.8bn of bailout funds.

About 2,000 civil servants will be laid off by the end of May, with another 2,000 following by the end of the year and a further 11,500 by end-2014, for a total of 15,500.

The troika has already approved the payment of €2.8bn in rescue loans. The Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers will then meet on May 13 to release a further €6bn.

Government sources said that “there is still no such request from the Greek side, nor a discussion with troika” but we are considering examining the issue in the near future, provided that “the Greek side will be completely ready” to meet the prerequisites to be met until then.

Such a development could possibly mean that troika might not be required to come back to Athens in June if the government proceeds timely with some issues provided by the memorandum, like the numbering of all transactions with the State with a single number (which will integrate Tax Identification Number, ID and other identification numbers), changes in tax laws (simplification), etc.

Meanwhile, Adminstrative Reform Minister Antonis Manitakis and his associates are currently working on the final details nfor the preparation of the bill regarding changes in the public sector, tovima.gr writes.

According to the plan, the ministries will have about 50% less placements and reduced staff. The new bill will focus on effectiveness, efficiency, fiscal benefits and reducing operating cost criteria, while emphasizing is job placement organization and recruitment. The main focus is on merit and the qualitative improvement of staff and services provided.

One of the main aspects of the new bill is the issuing of presidential decrees. The government plans to restructure each ministry, so that they are more functional and effective. The detailed description of each position, along with the responsibilities and duties of each directorate, department and position are critical.

The goals of each department and ministry will become the goals of each employee, so staff will be evaluated on the degree to which they completed their tasks. These evaluations will determine whether an employee will face a dismissal or a transfer to another department.

Essentially, the new bill contains the tools by which a number of other reforms are to take place, such as the 15,000 dismissals by the end of 2014. The bill also ensures that for each compulsory dismissal there will be one recruitment. About 10,000 successful applicants who participated in ASEP competitions will cover these recruitments.

Meanwhile, the “surplus” employees from positions and departments that are to merge or be abolished will be inducted in a mobility scheme for transfer to other positions, based on staff evaluation and needs. The employees from public law entities will be given incentives to retire, while employees from private law entities will likely face outright dismissal. Along with employees facing misconduct charges, private law employees in the civil sector are the first to face dismissal.

[W]e also are seeing the emergence of a three speed global economy, those countries that are doing well, those countries that are on the mend, and those countries that still have quite a distance to travel.

Now, with strong interconnections, and uneven recovery, that three-speed recovery is not the healthiest recovery we could think of. The three-speed recovery is not enough and what we need is a full-speed global economy–growth that is solid, sustainable, balanced, but also inclusive and very much rooted in green developments.

This requires for the global economy to move from that three-speed recovery that we are observing to a full-speed recovery, with the kind of growth that we want, that requires clearly customized policy responses in each of the three groups that I have just identified. Those that are doing well, those on the mend, and those that still have a way to go.

If we look at the first speed, the first group–the emerging markets and the developing economies. Emerging markets face the new risk of avoiding financial excesses. They should rebuild policy space and strengthen financial regulation and supervision. Low-income countries, and in that group you really observe probably the fastest growth rates at the moment, they should build on success and invest in the future, including by meeting infrastructure and social needs. And that is where the inclusive growth really kicks in. It doesn’t only apply to that group, but it is very needed in that particular group. The international community, of course, needs to support these countries in addressing these challenges.

The second group includes the United States, but also countries like Sweden, Switzerland, for instance. If we look at the United States, it has managed to avoid the fiscal cliff—much talked about until January 1st. It still needs, however, to fix the pace of its fiscal adjustment–less and better-quality adjustment now, well-planned, well-anchored, well-communicated for the future. This would certainly support the recovery in private demand. Not to say that there is no recovery in private demand at the moment. It is clearly picking up, but it would certainly comfort it and would make it stronger for the long run.

The third group includes the euro area and Japan. Japan is in a space of its own in a way, but we have put it in that group for the moment. On the euro area, policy makers have accomplished a great deal over a short period of time. The priority now is to fix frayed banking systems, and press ahead with banking union…”

However, Egypt on Sunday rejected any suggestion of applying for an emergency IMF funding to help it as it struggles an economic and currency crisis.

The funding, known as the IMF’s Rapid Financing Instrument, would is short-term and would not replace Egypt’s negotiations with the IMF on a $4.8 billion loan, the source said, according to Reuters.

The RFI provides rapid and low-access financial assistance to member countries facing an urgent balance of payments need, without the need for a full-fledged program. It can provide support to meet a broad range of urgent needs, including those arising from commodity price shocks, natural disasters, post-conflict situations and emergencies resulting from fragility, according to the institution.

The RFI was created as part of a broader reform to make the IMF’s financial support more flexible to address the diverse needs of member countries.

“Egypt needs bold and ambitious policy actions to address its economic and financial challenges without further delay,” IMF spokeswoman Wafa Amr said on Monday.

Egypt’s foreign reserves have fallen to critically low levels and a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund was delayed by the political unrest that has gripped the country.

Meanwhile, Qatar does not expect to give further financial aid to Egypt in the immediate term, Qatari Finance Minister Youssef Kamal told Reuters on Monday.

Qatar has been a key source of foreign aid to Egypt since its 2011 revolution.

“We already announced $5bn,” Kamal told the news service, when asked how much aid Qatar had provided Egypt to date.

A few weeks earlier, Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday rewarded Egypt for President Mohammed Morsi’s pledges of political and economic reforms by releasing $250 million in American aid to support the country.

The conflict in Syria and related large refugee inflows; high energy and food prices; and lower gas inflows from Egypt, have put pressures on Jordan’s external and fiscal positions.

“Risks to the economic outlook remain, but the improvements in the fiscal and external accounts are encouraging,” the IMF official said.

“Despite a difficult external environment, Jordan’s economy has been performing well. Growth in 2012 is estimated to have increased to 2.8 percent while inflation has recently eased to 6.7 percent. Higher energy imports led to a widening of the external current account deficit, but that was offset by a stronger capital account,” she added.

The IMF official stressed that the central government performance was on track and the electricity company was in line with expectations and that the Central Bank of Jordan had managed well the temporary pressure on reserves in the fall of 2012.

With the receipt of sizeable grants from GCC countries, a successful dollar-denominated domestic treasury bond issuance, and increased preference for dinar denominated deposits, international reserves now stand at a comfortable level, she continued.

Talks with officials focused on medium-term policies for boosting growth prospects while strengthening fiscal and external positions—key objectives for the authorities’ program.

“We expect economic performance to be better in 2013. We agreed that near-term efforts should focus on further strengthening Jordan’s fiscal situation in a socially acceptable way, restoring the electricity company’s financial health, and further rebuilding policy buffers. This should be complemented by continued structural reforms aimed at improving the business environment, enhancing transparency, fostering trade, and improving labor-market skills through education and training,” she said.

Jordan has applied for $1 billion-plus loan from the IMF to address a budget deficit caused mostly by the energy burden, among other factors.

The 5 million euro deal for Oxia, the largest of the islands at 1,236 acres, was agreed last year but had been caught up in delay obtaining land use permits from Greek forestry officials, according to the Financial Times.

The island of Oxia, located in the Ionian Sea, was initially for sale at 6.9 million euros, but the imposition of rising property taxes led to a greatly reduced price.

The emir also agreed to a 3.5 million euro deal last week for a further five islands nearby.

Ithaca’s mayor, Ioannis Kassianos, said: “When you buy an island, even if you are the emir of Qatar, it takes a year and a half for all the paperwork to go through,” The Guardian reported.

The world’s most powerful monetary institutions, including the IMF, are pressuring Greece to privatise its islands in order to reduce its sovereign debts.

Last month, following a visit to Doha by the Greek prime minister, Antonis Samaras, a Greek government spokesman announced that Qatar had returned as a candidate in the competition process to develop former Hellinikon airport.

Qatari government has signed a contract that gives the right to participate anew in the competition process, one month after Diar Real Estate Investment Co., a unit of Qatar Investment Authority, didn’t proceed to the second phase of a tender for the Hellenikon project in January.

One of the most attractive pieces of property in the country, it was scheduled to become Europe’s biggest park but is being turned over for development as part of the country’s accelerated privatization plans to bring in cash to the indebted country.

The three other bidders are Elbin Cochin Ltd. from Israel, London & Regional Properties from the U.K. and Lamda Development SA (LAMDA.AT) of Greece.

Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said in Parliament: “The country had reached the edge, it run the risk of exiting the Eurozone and go bankrupt. We, the three parties that support the government, are trying at the lowest possible cost -for the Greek citizen- to bring the country into a sustainable situation.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund is preparing to send a staff mission to Greece next month to assess the country’s performance under an austerity program backed by an international rescue, an IMF spokesman said Thursday.

The IMF mission will begin discussions in Athens with Greek and European Union officials in late February, IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said at a news briefing.

“A staff team will start discussions in Athens with the authorities, the European Commission, and the European Central Bank in late February. The purpose of the mission is to assess progress on the implementation of measures in the programme. The visit is expected to conclude around mid-March.”

Alternate Finance Minister Christos Staikouras pledged yesterday that the government will pay debts amounting to EUR 3.5 billion by the end of March as its agreement with its creditors provides for, rising to 8 billion by year-end. According to Kathimerini, the Finance Ministry intends to pay debts to the market amounting to some EUR 8 billion by the end of the year, having already fulfilled obligations totaling EUR 962 million and expecting to pay another EUR 1.9 billion by the end of February.

The IMF released €3.2 billion euros in aid to Greece in January that had been frozen for months amid fears about the country’s ability to surmount its debt crisis.

The IMF executive board approved release of the funds after completing two reviews of Greece’s economic performance under an IMF loan programme that is part of an international rescue also supported by the European Union. Both IMF and EU have committed a total of 240 billion euros in rescue loans to Greece since 2010.

The IMF has been pushing Europe to do more to solve the Greek debt crisis, after the Fund extended its Greek rescue loan to four years from three years and lowered the interest charged on it.

The full announcement:

“The Eurogroup recalls that a full staff-level agreement has been reached between Greece and the Troika on updated programme conditionality and that, according to the Troika, Greece has implemented all agreed prior actions.

The Eurogroup in particular welcomes the updated assessment of the Troika that Greece has implemented in a satisfactory manner a wide ranging set of reforms, as well as the budget for 2013 and an ambitious medium term fiscal strategy 2013-16.

The Eurogroup noted with satisfaction that the updated programme conditionality includes the adoption by Greece of new instruments to enhance the implementation of the programme, notably by means of correction mechanisms to safeguard the achievement of both fiscal and privatisation targets, and by stronger budgeting and monitoring rules. Greece has also significantly strengthened the segregated account for debt servicing. Greece will transfer all privatizations revenues, the targeted primary surpluses as well as 30% of the excess primary surplus to this account, to meet debt service payment on a quarterly forward-looking basis. Greece will also increase transparency and provide full ex ante and ex post information to the EFSF/ESM on transactions on the segregated account.

The Eurogroup again commended the authorities for their demonstrated strong commitment to the adjustment programme and reiterated its appreciation for the efforts made by the Greek citizens.

The Eurogroup noted that the outlook for the sustainability of Greek government debt has worsened compared to March 2012 when the second programme was concluded, mainly on account of a deteriorated macro-economic situation and delays in programme implementation

The Eurogroup considered that the necessary revision in the fiscal targets and the implied postponement of a primary surplus target of 4.5% of GDP from 2014 to 2016 calls for a broader concept of debt sustainability encompassing lower debt levels in the medium term, smoothing of the current financing hump after 2020 and easing of its financing.

The Eurogroup was informed that Greece is considering certain debt reduction measures in the near future, which may involve public debt tender purchases of the various categories of sovereign obligations. If this is the route chosen, any tender or exchange prices are expected to be no higher than those at the close on Friday, 23 November 2012.

The Eurogroup considers that, in recapitalising Greek banks, liability management exercises should be conducted in respect of remaining subordinated debt holders so as to ensure a fair burden sharing.

Against this background and after having been reassured of the authorities’ resolve to carry the fiscal and structural reform momentum forward and with a positive outcome of the possible debt buy-back operation, the euro area Member States would be prepared to consider the following initiatives:

- A lowering by 100 bps of the interest rate charged to Greece on the loans provided in the context of the Greek Loan Facility. Member States under a full financial assistance programme are not required to participate in the lowering of the GLF interest rates for the period in which they receive themselves financial assistance.

- A lowering by 10 bps of the guarantee fee costs paid by Greece on the EFSF loans.

- An extension of the maturities of the bilateral and EFSF loans by 15 years and a deferral of interest payments of Greece on EFSF loans by 10 years. These measures will not affect the creditworthiness of EFSF, which is fully backed by the guarantees from Member States.

- A commitment by Member States to pass on to Greece’s segregated account, an amount equivalent to the income on the SMP portfolio accruing to their national central bank as from budget year 2013. Member States under a full financial assistance programme are not required to participate in this scheme for the period in which they receive themselves financial assistance.

The Eurogroup stresses, however, that the above-mentioned benefits of initiatives by euro area Member States would accrue to Greece in a phased manner and conditional upon a strong implementation by the country of the agreed reform measures in the programme period as well as in the post-programme surveillance period.

The Eurogroup is confident that, jointly, the above-mentioned initiatives by Greece and the other euro area Member States would bring Greece’s public debt back on a sustainable path throughout this and the next decade and will facilitate a gradual return to market financing. Euro area Member States will consider further measures and assistance, including inter alia lower co-financing in structural funds and/or further interest rate reduction of the Greek Loan Facility, if necessary, for achieving a further credible and sustainable reduction of Greek debt-to-GDP ratio, when Greece reaches an annual primary surplus, as envisaged in the current MoU, conditional on full implementation of all conditions contained in the programme, in order to ensure that by the end of the IMF programme in 2016, Greece can reach a debt-to-GDP ratio in that year of 175% and in 2020 of 124% of GDP, and in 2022 a debt-to-GDP ratio substantially lower than 110%.

As was stated by the Eurogroup on 21 February 2012, we are committed to providing adequate support to Greece during the life of the programme and beyond until it has regained market access, provided that Greece fully complies with the requirements and objectives of the adjustment programme.

The Eurogroup concludes that the necessary elements are now in place for Member States to launch the relevant national procedures required for the approval of the next EFSF disbursement, which amounts to EUR 43.7 bn. EUR 10.6 bn for budgetary financing and EUR 23.8 bn in EFSF bonds earmarked for bank recapitalisation will be paid out in December. The disbursement of the remaining amount will be made in three sub-tranches during the first quarter of 2013, linked to the implementation of the MoU milestones (including the implementation of the agreed tax reform by January) to be agreed by the Troika.

The Eurogroup expects to be in a position to formally decide on the disbursement by 13 December, subject to the completion of these national procedures and following a review of the outcome of a possible debt buy-back operation by Greece.”

Greek media reported late yesterday that the Premier held separate meetings with his two coalition partners, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos and Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis. Sources said agenda included the new cabinet, as well as the formation of a governmental coordination committee by the three leaders.

“The reshuffle will take place after the disbursement of the tranche,” a government source told journalists. “The finance minister will not be moved.”

The governmental coordination committee, protothema.gr writes, came after DIMAR’s proposal and will be set up after the summit. It will have the following responsibilities: a) monitoring the implementation of decisions of political leaders; b) solving intergovernmental and interministerial problems; c) informing parties about governmental decisions.

Meanwhile, Eurozone finance ministers meet today to give a tentative go-ahead for the disbursement of EUR 44 billion in emergency loans to Greece, as European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF) lenders disagree over how to resolve the country’s debt crisis.

According to a Reuters report, the money will only be paid on Dec. 5 if the country meets all remaining conditions.

According to the report, providing Eurozone finance ministers have given their political endorsement, proposals on how to cut Greek debt and provide additional financing can be sent to national parliaments for approval, a step that is expected to be completed by Nov. 30, according to media reports. Then, the troika will check if the remaining reforms are in place on Nov. 28 and Eurozone finance ministers will make the final decision to pay the next tranche to Athens on Dec. 3, Greece and the European Commission would sign a revised memorandum of understanding on Dec. 4 and Greece would get the money on Dec 5.

Sources close to Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said they expected a tranche of EUR 31.5 billion in aid by December 5 and another EUR 13 billion in January, Kathimerini writes.