Former ND FinMin blames gov’t for IMF recourse

Former finance minister with the preceding New Democracy (ND) government Yannis Papathanassiou on Monday unveiled a publication entitled “Using the Language of Numbers: the Truth About the Economy”, stressing that his endeavour “constitutes an effort to present the truth on the Greek economy and the moves that led the country to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)”.

Papathanassiou underlined that “following a year of one-sided presentation of the situation by the ruling PASOK government,” he decided to “speak using facts and figures proving that the recourse to the IMF’s support is the result of a number of actions and omissions made by the current government”.

The former finance minister stressed that “the PASOK government has intentionally falsified the truth to defame the main opposition New Democracy (ND) party and serve its own interests”.

He added that in the nine-month period he was in charge of the Greek economy he did everything in his power to stop the deficit and debt crisis from turning into a crisis of trust between the country and the international markets. “This was accomplished by the PASOK government in just six months leading Greece to the IMF”, he concluded.