Greek Visit By Troika Technical Team To Begin Wednesday
ATHENS (Dow Jones)--Greece is awaiting a technical level delegation of international inspectors, known as the troika, to arrive Wednesday, with senior members of the team expected to follow shortly thereafter, a finance ministry official said Wednesday.
"The technical team will arrive today. The heads of the delegation will arrive over the next few days," Ilias Plaskovitis, general secretary of the finance ministry, told SKAI television.
The arrival of inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank--the troika--comes just hours after Greece΄s parliament approved a new property tax that Greece had promised its international creditors.
Talks between the troika and the Greek government were abruptly suspended earlier this month over a dispute on whether Athens should take additional steps to meet its budget deficit targets.
Passage of the measure, which is designed to cover a EUR2 billion revenue shortfall in Greece΄s budget targets this year, was seen as a pre-condition for the return of the inspectors who will decide on Greece΄s eligibility to receive a next, EUR8 billion disbursement of badly-needed aid.
The measure passed parliament late Tuesday on the support of the ruling Socialist majority, with 155 lawmakers voting in favor and 142 against. The vote was also seen as a test of confidence in the government as it scrambles to push through more unpopular austerity measures and with only weeks to go before it runs out of cash.