A 4.6-billion-euro black hole already for 2012

The head of the Privatization Fund, K. Mitropoulos, is stepping on the brakes concerning the optimistic forecasts of the government about large revenue from privatizations. The program will begin in 2012, extending the management contract of the Eleftherios Venizelos airport and the sale of rights for state lotteries. The set goals, however, do not justify any optimism. 

At a meeting of finance minister Evangelos Venizelos with the director of the Fund, it was discovered that whatever targets have been set so far, the new administration has fully achieved. They brought 1.6 billion to the state coffers, exactly what they promised when they took office during the summer and compared to zero revenue in the last two years. 

And to avoid recurrences of ridiculous events of the past, Mitropoulos asked to ease up on the expectations and timelines set forth by the budget and the mid-term plan. 

According to Mitropoulos, privatization revenue will reach 2.2% of the GDP next year, i.e. 4.6 to 4.7 billion euros or almost half of what the new state budget provides by including revenues of 9.3 billion euros. 

However, the gap of more than 4 billion will have to be covered in other ways. The Troika will be returning to update the memorandum, which insists on a program of 28 privatizations to collect revenue of 9.3 billion euros. But the messages from the markets, along with uncertainty and recession, create obstacles for this series of arguments.