Stournaras: No to collective layoffs - Primary surplus for the first time since 200

Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras appeared in the main SKY newscast answering questions about the course of the Greek economy, the primary surplus for 2013, and the collective redundancies that Troika is asking.

Regarding the comments and rumors heard about him and his stay at the Finance Ministry, Stournaras said "we are in a long period of negotiations with the troika and I do not have time to think of anything beyond that. The battle is long and we must win. I have the support of the Prime Minister and I do my job. "

He said that he serves as a "lightning rod" in case of tensions between ND and PASOK on economic issues, but believes  this is "logical, for a Finance Minister who must takes extraordinary measures," while his relationship with the Deputy Prime Minister is "excellent."

It is worth noting that, according to Stournaras, for the first time since 2001 "we are above the targets in government revenues and 80% have achieved our goals. There is a primary surplus."

About Troika he said "it is difficult to agree on the Eurogroup in January, but we do not want to do so already, because we await for the final figures of the year which we think will be better. With them we will convince the troika that the predictions made by the government for the loss of revenue from tax cuts are correct. We can not have generalized tax cuts.”

Although Stournaras said the losses from the VAT reduction in catering are small, he added that there can not be any further tax cuts as "markets are still closed for Greece."

Regarding the hike and whether it was an extra one, as was described by the then FinMin Ev. Venizelos, Stournaras replied "what does extraordinary mean? It’s impossible not to have a real estate tax in a developed country."

Referring to reduction of heating oil, he said a "reduction will be achieved only if we combat the smuggling in maritime fuel," and pointed out that the goal of the MoF is to eliminate tax fraud.

Among other things, Stournaras said the social security contributions in 2014 will be reduced, while for collective layoffs he said "no business is putting out the issue of collective redundancies. We have arguments to convince the troika that this is a useless measure that is not needed and the troika is discussing it."