Greece's international backers gave it good marks on Thursday for austerity measures demanded as part of a huge bailout, as unions called a 24-hour strike in protest at cuts that have pushed unemployment to a 10-year high.
A team from the European Union, IMF and European Central Bank said Greece seemed on track with reforms aimed at rescuing the debt-laden nation from bankruptcy in return for a 3-year, 110-billion euro ($134.9 billion) rescue package.
"While the mission did not undertake a comprehensive review at this time, its discussions suggest that the programme is on track and that the policies are being implemented as agreed," a statement from the trio said.
That should signal funds under the scheme will continue to flow.
"Today we had the first positive signs that Greece can get out of its difficult spot," Prime Minister George Papandreou said in Brussels after an EU summit, welcoming the findings.
But his socialist government faces growing opposition to the deal at home as the pain of the swingeing cuts mounts.
Public and private sector unions announced a general strike on June 29 to protest the pension and labour reforms agreed as part of the bailout, in what would be their fifth day-long protest this year.
The unions represent 2.5 million workers, or half the Greek workforce. The government on Wednesday revised labour rules, making it easier and less costly for businesses to fire workers while cutting the minimum wage for new hires in an effort to make the economy more competitive. [ID:nLDE65F2ET]
HOSTILE
"Workers are stepping up their reaction and their mobilisation to repel the government's hostile measures," the GSEE private sector union said in a statement on the strike.
Papandreou said the labour reforms were aimed at helping young people get jobs, as data showed unemployment had risen to a 10-year high of 11.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010.
As part of a rash of smaller protests, a strike paralysed public transport in Athens.
The three-day interim review by the visiting IMF, EU and ECB showed Athens was keeping tight control over spending and that the budget deficit was smaller than projected at the end of May, although full data were not yet available.
"Fiscal developments are positive with central government revenues coming in … as expected and with firm expenditure control in the state budget."
Representatives will return for a full review at the end of July to receive information on budget developments in the wider public sector, such as state-run pension funds and local government, which are necessary to obtain a full picture, it said.
Greece's progress will be reviewed every three months to approve successive aid tranches, enabling the country to roll over expiring debt.
The first review will be completed by Aug. 30 for the country to receive 9 billion euros of aid. Greece last month received a first payment of 20 billion euros.
Under the EU/IMF fiscal plan, Greece is aiming to shrink its budget gap by 5.5 percentage points to 8.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year and bring it under the EU's 3 percent limit by 2014.
The Greek economy may contract less this year than the 4 percent expected in the programme, but it was still too early to revise the forecast, said Poul Thomsen, IMF mission chief for Greece.
But inflation, which was running at a 13-year peak of 5.4 percent in May, was still too high, he said.
