IMF: Greece will miss financial targets

The International Monetary Fund in an official report said Greece's financial situation is worse than previously thought. With a new estimate on the country's economic growth, the IMF said even a 50 percent write-off on Greek debt would be insufficient for Greece to avoid default, Ekathimerini reported Saturday. To dig Greece out of its financial trough "requires either a deeper haircut or additional loans from Europe," an IMF official said. While the Greek economy stumbles, tax revenues have dropped. The previous goal was for Athens to collect $9 billion in taxes in December, January and February. Without hitting its target on tax collection, the budget deficit is projected to reach 10 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, missing another target, that of keeping the deficit below 9 percent of GDP.