Statistics chief vows swift Greek reform

GREECE'S new statistics agency chief yesterday promised swift reforms that would produce reliable financial data free from government interference.

Former International Monetary Fund official Andreas Georgiou took up his post yesterday, heading the agency that was widely discredited last year after the new Socialist government revealed that budget data had been embellished.

The agency has been placed under parliamentary oversight and not under direct government control.

Serious errors in Greek deficit data, revealed last year, helped to trigger the European government debt crisis. "When there is a deadline, it must be met. We must reach the highest standard... there can be no flexibility on this point," Mr Georgiou said.

Creating an independent agency - renamed as the Hellenic Statistical Authority - was a key step, along with painful austerity measures, for Greece to be granted €110 billion (93bn) in rescue loans from the IMF and other European Union countries that are members of the single currency.

Greece narrowly avoided bankruptcy in May before it began receiving the loans.