Foreign inspectors return to Athens

Inspectors from the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the European Stability Mechanism and the International Monetary Fund are expected to return to Athens this week following a break for Catholic Easter to continue their review of Greece’s bailout program.

The focus is on ways to cover an estimated fiscal gap of 1 percent of GDP, or 1.8 billion euros, by 2018. This would bring the government closer to achieving a primary budget surplus of 3.5 percent of GDP in 2018.

The coalition government, which has a parliamentary majority of just three seats, wants to avoid cutting pensions for the 12th time since 2010 to plug the shortfall.

Greece and its lenders are aiming to conclude their negotiations in time for the relevant measures to be passed before eurozone finance ministers meet on April 22.