Bills revoking extension of debt repayment scheme, tackling corporate NPLs approved

A government bill revoking the extension of a payment scheme foreseeing up to 100 installments for debtors to include property tax and income tax installments was approved in Parliament on Friday with 147 votes in favor and 112 against. Two coalition MPs, PASOK’s Apostolos Kaklamanis and Michalis Kassis, voted present.

Separate legislation aimed at tackling the problem of corporate non-performing loans, was also approved in Parliament in a separate vote with 165 in favor, 83 against and 13 voting present.

The government was keen to clinch the votes, particularly on revoking the debt repayment scheme in a bid to convince the troika to return to Athens and resume their latest inspection. The new bill exempting from the scheme all debts that expired after October 1. Practically, this means the four final installments of a unified property tax and the final tranches of income tax dues cannot be included in the scheme. The troika is said to have objected to the originally proposed extension of the payment scheme amid fears that it would increase Greece’s fiscal gap for next year by around 1 billion euros.