Jens Bastian – All on board: The EU, ECB and IMF go to work with the government in Athens
February 19, 2010 |
Bastian Jens
|
The views expressed here are those of the author
When Prime Minister George Papandreou announced after the special European Union Council meeting in Brussels last week that the International Monetary Fund is providing “technical expertise” to the government, some commentators inside and outside Greece seemed to be caught by surprise.
They should not have been. There was great speculation during the past weeks over when and how the IMFm should be called in to assist Greece. The IMF has been firmly anchored in Athens since mid-January, when a delegation from Washington first arrived in Greece. Then the Fund assisted the government in drafting the budget deficit-reduction program and provided technical advice on improving the controversial state of Greek statistical services.
