European inspectors return to Greece to check finances

Greece’s lead creditor warned the country on Monday not to stray from reforms agreed before the end of its international bailout, as European monitors arrived for a five-day inspection of the nation’s finances. The inspectors are likely to focus on government promises over the weekend, which offer tax relief, as well as plans to scrap promised pension cuts that are due to take effect in 2019, AP reports. Klaus Regling, managing director of the European Stability Mechanism, the eurozone’s rescue fund, told Austria’s Die Presse newspaper: “We can stop debt relief measures that have been decided for Greece if the adjustment programs are not continued as agreed.” The bailout program ended on August 20 but the country’s debt level remains near 180 percent of GDP.