Greece's new statistics head pledges reliable data
By Derek Gatopoulos |
July 23, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
GREECE'S new statistics agency chief promised swift reforms yesterday that would produce reliable financial data free from government interference.
Former IMF official Andreas Georgiou took up his post yesterday heading the statistics agency that was widely discredited last year after the Socialist government that came to power in October revealed that budget data had been embellished.
The agency now comes under parliamentary oversight and not under direct government control.
Serious errors in Greek deficit data, revealed last year, helped trigger the European government debt crisis that rattled world markets and confidence in the euro.
"When there is a deadline, it must be met. We must reach the highest standard ... There can be no flexibility on this point," Georgiou said.
Creating an independent agency - renamed as the Hellenic Statistical Authority - was a key step, along with painful austerity measures, for Greece to be granted 110 billion euros (US$141.26 billion) in rescue loans from the International Monetary Fund and other European Union countries that use the euro.
Greece narrowly avoided bankruptcy in May before it began receiving the loans.
The gravity of Greece's debt woes was revealed last October, when the new Socialist government abruptly increased the deficit projection from 3.7 percent of GDP to 12.5 percent - stunning EU partners and markets.
Former IMF official Andreas Georgiou took up his post yesterday heading the statistics agency that was widely discredited last year after the Socialist government that came to power in October revealed that budget data had been embellished.
The agency now comes under parliamentary oversight and not under direct government control.
Serious errors in Greek deficit data, revealed last year, helped trigger the European government debt crisis that rattled world markets and confidence in the euro.
"When there is a deadline, it must be met. We must reach the highest standard ... There can be no flexibility on this point," Georgiou said.
Creating an independent agency - renamed as the Hellenic Statistical Authority - was a key step, along with painful austerity measures, for Greece to be granted 110 billion euros (US$141.26 billion) in rescue loans from the International Monetary Fund and other European Union countries that use the euro.
Greece narrowly avoided bankruptcy in May before it began receiving the loans.
The gravity of Greece's debt woes was revealed last October, when the new Socialist government abruptly increased the deficit projection from 3.7 percent of GDP to 12.5 percent - stunning EU partners and markets.
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