New Greek austerity budget under EU-IMF scrutiny

EU, IMF and European Central Bank officials are examining a tough new Greek austerity budget, a government source said Wednesday as analysts bet Athens will have to restructure its soaring debt.
Auditors from the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank, which last year bailed out Greece from near-bankruptcy, are to meet the finance minister to discuss the blueprint.
"The talks are expected to focus on the three-year budget draft," the government source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The visit was not part of regular quarterly reviews to check the country's progress on the commitments Athens made in return for last year's 110-billion-euro ($156-billion) EU-IMF rescue loan, the official added.
The new government plan aims to slash the country's runaway public deficit by a whopping nine points to bring it down to just one percent of Gross Domestic Product by 2015. The EU deficit ceiling is three percent.
Greece is under pressure to overhaul its economy with sweeping cuts in its chronically inefficient public sector but a draconian austerity drive enforced for the past year has so far fallen short of the expected results.