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.