GREEK ECONOMY

The shifting to a green economy, digital transformation, the strengthening of employment, private investments and the transformation of the economy are among the main axes of the Greek plan for the EU’s Recovery Fund, as the Deputy Minister of Finance Theodoros Skylakakis presented to a cabinet meeting today.

With an amendment to the law on consumer protection (Law 2251/1994), which was included in the bill for the new debt settlement framework, the Ministry of Development allows insurance companies to increase the premiums on existing long-term health contracts.

The expectation that 2021 could become the starting point of a new course after the pandemic, with high growth rates, was expressed by Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikouras, addressing the 3rd Athens Investment Forum, and added that this growth will be funded with 8 tools that thet will help greek economy to recover.

Α series of new reports have been published in recent days by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Dutch ABN AMRO and Italy’s UniCredit, where forecasts for 2021 were revised lower.

The IMF called the government's quick response to the pandemic "commendable", saying that "timely implementation of travel restrictions, a ban on public events, and other social distancing measures helped contain the initial outbreak.

According to the Ministry of Finance, a clear and safe picture of how the pandemic has affected GDP will exist in September with the weight falling on tourism, where in the third quarter of the year the sector does 60 percent of its annual business.

All restaurants, bars and catering businesses will close from 00:00 until 07:00 in the region of Attica, the islands of the Saronic Gulf and the island of Kythira until August 24. Hardalias urged for the use of face masks to people returning home from holidays in highly burdened areas and recommended the use of face mask at all indoors facilities. when the necessary distance is not possible to be kept.

Greece's Finance Ministry is on red alert after the large spike in the primary budget deficit to 8.2 billion euros in July from 6.1 billion euros in June, making it more difficult to help support the economy and provide tax relief measures that are high on the government's agenda.

The preliminary budget execution figures for the seven-month period showed a deficit of 2.086 billion euros in the general government balance. The primary result for the same seven-month period in 2019 was a surplus of 1.763 billion euros. Net revenue totaled 23.106 billion euros, down 17.7 pct from budget targets, while the total budget revenues amounted to 25.940 billion euros, down by 14.7 pct from target. Tax revenues totalled 22.678 billion euros, down 13.6 pct from target.

By upgrading deputy Finance Minister Theodoros Skylakakis to Alternate Finance Minister in charge of EU funds, the Greek premier is hoping to quickly tap the 72-billion-euro package.