Greece must accelerate reforms: ECB economist

The European Central Bank's chief economist said on Sunday that Greece needed to press on with difficult structural reforms if it is to overcome the debt crisis plaguing the nation.
"The programme remains broadly on track... But Greece needs to continue structural reforms to lay a sound basis for growth and job creation," Juergen Stark said in an interview with Greek daily To Vima.
"What is important now is that some delays in the preparation of important structural reforms, particularly in the second wave of labour market reforms, urgently have to be addressed," he said.
Greece has committed itself to drastic reforms and cutbacks in its overblown state sector in return for a 110-billion-euro (148-billion-dollar) EU-IMF loan that saved it from bankruptcy earlier this year.
In late November, Athens won approval for a new slice of rescue funding but the IMF and EU prescribed even tougher action on tax evasion, waste in health care and on state companies to merit another payout.