Greece has done everything it was required to do and it is now the turn of Greece’s partners, especially the Eurogroup, to assume their responsibilities, Bank of Greece governor Yannis Stournaras said in an article published by the Greek newspaper “Kathimerini” on Sunday.
“What has been achieved is only the start of a new growth model, which is based on healthy fundamental indicators and higher competitiveness,” he said, while noting that there was still a large distance to travel.
Stournaras said it was essential that the next Eurogroup take decisions to specify, as much as possible, the medium-term and long-term measures for making Greece’s debt sustainable. Making these specific, he noted, was necessary because the financial markets that Greece hopes to tap for its future borrowing needs after the summer of 2018 demand to know whether the country’s debt is sustainable or not. He stressed that such market access was “the only way” open, since neither Greece nor its partners had any desire for another bailout.
The central bank’s proposals for a “gentle” debt restructuring, if adopted, will boost both the recovery of the economy and the country’s credit-worthiness, Stournaras said.
“The economy has walked many difficult paths, with many mistakes and much backtracking, both by Greece and by its partners. But the result, after seven difficult years, is surely positive and the foundations for improvement in the period that follows have already been laid. At this crucial juncture, further mistakes and backtracking are not permissible,” he concluded.
