Head of Austrian railways: IMF privatisation targets for Greece 'unrealistic'
- Written by E.Tsiliopoulos
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) targets and expectations from privatisations in Greece were unrealistically high, the head of Austrian Federal Railways (OBB) Christian Kern said in an interview with the local monthly magazine 'Trend' published on Monday.
Taking the plan for the privatisation of the Greek railway as an example, Kern said he was surprised at the target sum to be raised from its privatisation and suggested that the IMF's stance was "out of touch with reality" and not in the interests of either Greece or its lenders.
As had been the case in other countries, he added, the IMF and World Bank experts put down "imaginary numbers" in their documents, in this way striving for the privatisation of a sector that, in his opinion, was better off remaining public.
"Reforms are necessary but the anticipated revenues from the privatisations are unrealistic," Kern stressed.
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