Government talks with institutions expected to wrap up Friday

The date is when the European Commission will make public its first post-memorandum surveillance review of the country's economy and 16 points of action, and it is hoped it will be in time for the Eurogroup of March 11 to approve the disbursement to Greece of 600 million euros - representing the first tranche of returned profits (ANFAs and SMPs) of European national central banks from Greek bonds.

As the official said on the sidelines of Thursday's talks in Athens with institution representatives, the management of non-performing loans (NPLs) will not be included in the Commmission's report. However, the government would like the approval of the European body's competition department (DGcomp) for state guarantees and loan installment subsidies as soon as possible.

The official also mentioned that in terms of an increase of the lower monthly wages, the government believes the move will not affect productivity and competitiveness negatively.