Related Articles
Top Stories
May 27 2012 11:21
There's a price war raging between South Africa's cellphone networks after Cell C lowered the rates of its prepaid calls by more than 34%.
May 27 2012 13:09
The oversupply of golf estates has claimed another victim.
May 28 2012 07:53
The City of Cape Town has spent R175m running the Myciti bus service since the Soccer World Cup compared to an income of R35m, a report says.
Frankfurt - The European Central Bank welcomed late on Wednesday measures unveiled by Greece to cut its swollen public deficit, but said Athens should quickly adopt "decisive structural reforms" as well.
The ECB governing council "welcomes the convincing additional and permanent fiscal consolidation measures," which the Greek government had announced earlier in the day.
Greece launched a fresh round of draconian austerity measures, winning respite on the markets and setting the scene for crucial European support that analysts say could come soon.
The government increased sales, tobacco and alcohol taxes and cut public sector holiday allowances to save €4.8bn, or about 2% of gross domestic product (GDP).
Pensions in the public and private sector were also frozen.
"This demonstrates the strong commitment of the Greek government to achieve the fiscal objectives enshrined in its stability programme," the ECB statement said.
Central bank governors also appreciated the Greece's "recognition that it is imperative to also rapidly adopt and implement decisive structural reforms," it added.
The ECB's official line is that Greece must sort out its catastrophic finances on its own, but analysts and press reports say rescue plans backed by major eurozone countries like Germany and France are being drafted and should be announced shortly.
- Sapa