Greece will ask international creditors to reduce the privatization target for this year. The decision comes after the auction failure for the sale of the state-owned gas company Depa.
"It is very difficult to cover the one billion euro that we expected to obtain from Depa - an official of the Athens government told Reuters - We will ask the creditors to defer to 2014".
Under the EU/IMF bailout plan, Athens aims to raise at least 1,8 billion euros from privatization revenues by the end of September and indicatively at least 2,5 billion euros by the end of the year.
The EU Commission said today that the privatization process of Depa will have to resume as soon as possible. “The result of the privatization of the gas sector in Greece is very important from the point of view of revenues and the impact on the reform of the energy sector – said the spokesman of the Commission -. In this context, the privatization of Depa should resume as soon as possible. The execution of the program is the responsibility of the Greek authorities”.
