Weak sentiment may harm Greek tax revenues, boosting chances of further measures

While Finance Minister Giorgos Papaconstantinou appears confident Greece will meet or even exceed the 2010 budget deficit target of 8.1 percent of gross domestic product agreed in the economic policy program with the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, executives from the private sector appear more pessimistic about the prospects of their firms and the real economy.

This, in turn, poses a dilemma: Can Greece stick to the austerity program and slash its budget deficit as planned or will the burden of a badly bruised private sector undermine this effort?
There is no doubt that the country’s fiscal consolidation is unprecedented even by international standards. The general government budget deficit will have to be reduced by some 11 percentage points of GDP between 2010 and 2013, half of which is planned to be slashed this year.
But the government, which let the country get to this point, has no other way but to cut its budget deficit and satisfy the terms of the memorandum if it wants to secure the remaining 10 loan disbursements from the 110-billion-euro financing package provided by eurozone countries and the IMF. It is noted 80 billion euros come from the eurozone and the rest from the IMF.

News source: Kathimerini link: article