GREEK ECONOMY

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.

As the head of the ECB pointed out, discussions have progressed significantly in both the European Commission and the ECB on the establishment of Asset Management Companies (AMCs) at national level, but also on the strengthening of AMCs in countries where they already exist. Asked about the Bank of Greece’s, Lagarde referred the issue to BoG Governor, Yiannis Stournaras.

As announced by the Prime Minister’s office, the fund has five cycles, namely Employment and Social Cohesion, Digital Governance, Infrastructure and Transport, Productive Transformation and Private Investments. In each "cycle", projects or other actions can be included up to a specific budget, without meaning that in the end there will be no changes depending on the proposals submitted by the ministries.

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.

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.

"Absolute priority must be given to alleviating the burden on wage labor" and calculating that the "invisible hand" of the state keeps up to 67 percent of an employee's salary.

Εstimates which are driven by official announcements regarding the course of the economy in May, air arrivals at the Athens International Airport in June, as well as data from the May current account balance.

Stock market officials believe that it is a well-intentioned bill, which seeks to tighten rules on corporate governance and prevent mismanagement, but ends up being an over-the-top and bureaucratic system of rules that hands over excessive control to the Capital Market Commission, prompting fears that it may create more problems than it will solve.