Greece expects deal on bailout review without additional austerity

Greece expected a "political solution" with its international lenders to be reached to conclude the pending bailout review by the forthcoming Feb. 20 Euro Group meeting without burdening Greek people with additional austerity measures, a government spokesman said Tuesday.

The deal which the Greek government is currently negotiating will not include even one euro's worth of additional austerity, government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said during a regular press briefing.

Despite his optimism, Greek citizens seemed to be unconvinced.

Nearly eight in Greek citizens (78.5 percent) remain unconvinced and expect more cuts on salaries, pensions and tax hikes in exchange of the long-delayed closing of the second assessment of Greece's third bailout, according to a new survey conducted by the University of Macedonia on behalf of SKAI television.

About 52 percent of respondents found wrong Athens' strategy in the negotiations for the second evaluation which, according to the initial timetable, should have closed in February 2016.

By an overwhelming 87.5 percent, Greeks said they believed the ailing economy is moving in the wrong direction.

According to data published on Tuesday by Greece's statistics service ELSTAT, the Greek economy contracted by 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, in contrast to a 0.9-percent growth in the previous quarter. Endit