Bank of Greece governor Yannis Stournaras sent an urgent message for the need of political and social consensus so as Greece to permanently exit economic crisis.
Mr. Stournaras submitted the bank’s interim report on monetary policy to Greek Parliament setting two preconditions for the return of the economy to normality and then to recovery.
The first precondition is the implementation of an agreement reached between the Greek government and the country’s partners.
He specifically called on the government to take all necessary initiatives, beyond the provisions of the agreement, to improve economic and investment climate by exploiting the positive momentum created from attracting private capital for the recapitalization of systemic banks.
The second precondition is Greek Parliament to support the adjustment effort and the rescue of the Greek economy.
“It is self-evident that the Parliament must contribute to the completion of the legislative work to implement the agreement, since the biggest part of adjustment has been achieved since 2010 and only a small part remains to be done,” Mr. Stournaras said.
The central bank expects the Greek economy to remain in negative ground at least in the first half of 2016 because of a high carry-over impact from 2015.
Economic activity trends in 2016 was closely related with the speed of implementing reforms envisaged in the agreement and with the grade of wider acceptance from the society.
Necessary preconditions for a gradual recovery of the economy, following a successful completion of a bank recapitalization plan, was a further loosening of capital controls and their lifting, improving liquidity in the banking system and restoring confidence.
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