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CNBC Interview with Greece's Finance Minister, Euclid Tsakalotos

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CNBC Interview with Greece's Finance Minister, Euclid Tsakalotos CNBC Interview with Greece’s Finance Minister, Euclid Tsakalotos Below are excerpts from a CNBC interview with Greece’s Finance Minister, Euclid Tsakalotos, and CNBC’s Silvia Amaro. Q1: Six months today since Greece ended its third bailout programme. What should be the focus of reforming the Greek economy in the coming months? A1: As you know we’ve done a lot of reforms over the last 4-5 years. We have a growth strategy that develops our priorities. We have 3 major priorities in the economy. One is speeding up the system of justice. The other is continuing with public administration reforms, and the third is improving the business environment. Those are the 3 major priorities and combining that we’re trying to build up a social state, a welfare state in Greece for the first time. Q2: How are you going to do that? You don’t have too much time left. The election – the latest date we can have the election is the 13thof October. A2: I thought a week is a long time in politics. We have time, we have a lot of legislation in the pipeline. We have a lot to do with bank reducing their NPLs, we have a lot to do with public administration. I think the people are beginning to see in their pockets the difference as we come out of the programme. They’re beginning to see the effect of our housing policy. All sorts of areas, time is on our side. People are seeing that we left the programme, and they are seeing the strategy that we have. Q3: Are you hoping that strategy will gain you more votes? SYRIZA is currently polling second in the opinion polls. A3: You would expect SYRIZA at this time in this electoral cycle to be second after what they[ i.e. the people]suffered. Don’t forget they suffered the biggest crisis in peace time ever in the history of the last 100 years. You would expect even that things are improving the level is still genuine difficulties and they have to decide in the election coming up which government is going to have that combination of policies that provide growth but also protect those who suffer most. Q4: Can you give me an update on the state of those reforms that Greece needs to implement by the end of the month in exchange for that money from the central banks? A4: The major issue major issue we are facing most of the there was a long list of things that were mostly leftovers from the programme -- the Structural Adjustment Programme we left. So, most issues have been covered like public administration, like energy, like the justice system. The major issue that most people have focused on is the protection of primary residences as you realise in such a crisis people's life plans are distorted because they thought they would have a certain amount of income. They have much less. So, we've been protecting primary residence. Now we're moving into a new system where people will be given support to be able to pay back their loans. So that's good for the people that will turn loans that are not being paid into loans that are green loans from red loans to green loans. But it will also help the banks to clear up their non-performing loans. So, we have a law which will be the new framework which we are now discussing both with the Hellenic Banking Association and we're also discussing it with the institutions and the ECB will give us their comments on it which I think is a win-win. It's a win for people who have got a loan in which they are struggling to be able to pay. And it's also a win for the banks that they'll be able to reduce their NPL bills much faster. Q5: So what are the chances of that under 27 February the European institutions will be able to publish that report saying that Greece has implemented all the necessary… A5: I foresee that the most likely result on the 27th is that they'll have a report that says Greece has done an awful lot of work. There's still some to be done to just pass legislation that has been agreed by the time of the Eurogroup of the 11th. So the report will be favorable it will say that we've done all this stuff. There are one or two things that have to pass through parliament but they are agreed legislation so it's a formality till the 11th of March Eurogroup. Q6: Greece issue the first bond -- post bailout that is. And it was quite successful. There was a big cash buffer as well after exiting the third bailout program. Is Greece in a position to potentially say no to that central bank profit money? A6: Well we don't see it as only as an issue of whether we need the money. We see it as an issue that covers both the creditors and the institutions are confident that Greece is continuing on a reform strategy. So, it's a signaling thing more than with the money thing. Of course, money is always useful. We don't need it immediately because as you say we have a cash buffer which means our debt is in a very good situation after the summer deal. And that's why we were able to go out to the markets three or four weeks ago and why investors are confident in the Greek economy and the spreads and reduced since we've come out in the markets and the spreads in even the 10-year bond yield is much reduced. So, I think it's continuing with the reform strategy. Know what you want to do. We do not surprise investors we provide this growth strategy. I told you before where it had the priorities on the justice system the public administration on the business environment. We also put in there that we would raise the minimum wage so everybody knows what it is about. There's no surprises there is no that the hidden agenda. Whereas we have New Democracy who promises huge tax cuts which I can't see where the money's coming from whether it's budgeted which is a serious issue for both I think markets and for people thinking of voting for New Democracy> Q7: I'm glad you’re bringing New Democracy to the discussion right now because yesterday when I asked Kyriakos Mitsotakis to tell me some of his proposals he did mention that he wants to renegotiate the primary budget surplus target. I was wondering do you think this is a good policy -- renegotiating --going back to the creditors and ask for a lower primary budget? A7: I think there should be consensus across the political divide on this issue. I think the three and a half percent and I've said it for an awful long time is too high for especially for a country that lost 27 percent of its GDP. I don't think this should be something that we should disagree about. We should go together and say you know in a Europe that has taken the lesson from the rise of the radical right and populist forces – that such high primary surplus targets only feeds into discontent not only with the political parties but within the, with the political process itself. So, I have no disagreement with the leader of the opposition that we need to do this and it would be nice if he had a less conflictual attitude so that we actually could have consensus on this issue. Q8: So let's imagine a scenario where New Democracy actually forms the next government. Would SYRIZA then given what you just said support Kyriakos Mitsotakis in getting that renegotiation from the creditors? A8: Of course, of course we did we wouldn't change our position just because new democracy was in power. I don’t think it's very likely they will be in power but in the unlikely and unfortunate eventuality that they are in power of course. If that was one of their main building blocks of what they wanted to do we would support them but we wouldn't support them in a large number of other areas especially since we actually don't know what their programme is. My deputy minister, the alternate minister for economy [George Chouliarakis] in the budget debate estimated that the cost of their announcements so far was 5 billion in the first year and another 4 billion over the next four years. Now we've had no serious response from New Democracy on where that money's coming from. So, you know we spent the 900 million extra -- not 900 billion -- 900 million extra in 2019 where the extra four billion to get to the 5.8 billion that they will announce come from God only knows. Certainly we don't. Q9: Just one final question to finish this subject. One of their proposals is indeed reducing lower is reducing corporate tax I should say. Do you think that a corporate tax of 20 percent in the next two years is feasible and what does that mean to the Greek public finances? A9: I mean the going to 20 percent would cost one billion. So, I would I would look with interest where that money is coming from.
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