GREECE - PS cutbacks to rein in debt

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GREECE
PS cutbacks to rein in debt
The Prime Minister of Greece has called on Public Servants to help “make ends meet” and to encourage their Agencies to cut waste and improve transparency.
   The call came as the Prime Minister, George Papandreou announced that PS pay bonuses would be cut by 30 per cent amid a fresh wave of austerity measures.
   In a speech to members of his party, Mr Papandreou said the Government needed to make a new beginning.
   “Today the Government is forced to ask for the contribution of all citizens, to ask Civil Servants to make ends meet with less,” he said.
   “I am asking them to demand from their management to cut waste and introduce more transparency.
   “Today the Civil Service is on its knees and its restoration is a condition of survival.”
   Before the 30 per cent cuts were announced, Greek Public Servants received two payments each year as holiday bonuses.
   They will lose these payments under a package of savings and tax rises designed to save a further €4.8 billion (A$7.2bn), or 2 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), this year.
   The annual salaries of Public Servants are split into 14 monthly installments, the last two comprising a monthly bonus for Christmas and a half-bonus for each of the Easter and summer holiday periods.
   “Difficult decisions had been taken for difficult times,” Mr Papandreou said.
   “Decisions which were not a choice, but a necessity in order for the survival of our country and our economy.
   “Our sacrifices will pay off if we all take on the fight to turn things around.”
   Greece has pledged to cut its budget deficit from 12.7 per cent of GDP — more than four times the limit for eurozone members — to 8.7 per cent by the end of the year and below 3 per cent by 2012.
   Austerity measures already announced include freezing PS pay and recruitment, raising taxes and changing the pension system.
   The average retirement age is to rise by two years to 63 and a half, and Government crackdown on tax evasion is to be launched.

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