Greek Measures: Christmas Bonus and Greek Authorities

greek measures: Last week Greece raised significant concerns regarding the country's bailout commitments among its eurozone lenders with plans to pay out a Christmas bonus for pensioners and keep a lower value-added tax on some islands, according to Global Times China. The lenders decided to suspend a short-term debt relief deal for Athens, which would reduce its public debt by 20 percentage points of GDP by 2060, until the effects of the Greek measures on bailout MoU targets is fully assessed. We have received a letter by the Greek authorities in response to the concerns raised by the institutions as well as the Euro Working Group on the recently legislated fiscal measures, one official said. We have been reassured by the accompanying assessment of the institutions indicating that their initial significant concerns, both on process and on substance, are alleviated by this letter as regards MoU commitments, especially regarding pensions, the official said. Eurozone finance ministers agreed on December 5 to grant Greece short-term debt relief that would reduce the amount of the country's public debt by 20 percentage points of GDP by 2060. Against this background, the formal ESM and EFSF decision-making procedures as regards to the short-term debt measures will be conducted in January, the official said. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.