International lenders return to Athens

Inspectors from Greece's international lenders, the so-called troika of the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund, are returning to Athens on Wednesday to check on Greece's progress in cutting its debt levels. Finance Ministry Secretary General Ilias Plaskovitis said. The troika's senior management is also expected in Greece later this week, after a three-week pause, Plaskovitis said in an interview to Athens' Sky TV channel. International lenders left Greece at the beginning of September, saying they could not provide in October the next 8 billion euro tranche out of a 110 billion euro bailout, if Greece failed to meet an agreed budget-deficit target. In the first eight months of the year, Greece's budget deficit has overshot its 2011 target of 7.6 percent of gross domestic product. The Greek authorities announced new austerity measures in September, including large redundancies, wage and pension cuts. On Tuesday, the Greek parliament voted for a new real estate tax. On Friday, local media said Greece's Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told lawmakers he saw three scenarios to resolve the debt crisis, including one involving an orderly default with a 50 percent cut for bondholders. The Greek authorities have rejected the reports however. With the idea of a Greek default gaining ground, there have been reports that the international authorities are working on a plan towards a "managed default" for Greece some time around the next G20 meeting in Paris in November. Germany is to vote on Thursday on a Eurozone plan, which includes expanding the powers of the eurozone bailout fund. According to media reports, Eurozone members are divided over the idea of further support for Greece, with some member states demanding that private investors take a bigger hit over restructuring of the debt.