Institutions’ Report for Greece is published today

A bevy of reports for Greece are coming today from Brussels and Washington. The European Commission’s announcements are awaited with interest as after the shock of the pandemic the economies are now following the path of the post-COVID era and the Commission presents the reports of the European semester for the member states, while the Greek economy passes a quadruple “test” .

In addition to the Commission’s conclusion for the European Semester, the report of the 10th assessment, the report on the sustainability of the Greek debt, will be published, while the International Monetary Fund will make announcements for the post-program monitoring and for the annual progress report.

According to information the evaluation is in a positive light, and the results give the green light for the disbursement of the installment of 767 million Euros in June, which results from the bond profits held by the central banks.

Among other things, the Commission is going to reiterate its assessment for the recovery of the Greek economy this year, focusing on the resources of the Recovery Fund, reforms, and investments. It is noted that the spring forecasts report a growth rate of 4.1% of GDP this year and 6% of GDP in 2022.

The effectiveness of government support measures, which have managed to reduce the effects of the health crisis, is expected to be satisfactory. There is now a recommendation for Member States to implement more targeted measures in the near future with a view to sustainable recovery.

On the reform front, it is expected the country’s progress in a number of areas such as banking and the reduction of red loans, the new bankruptcy code, the digitization of the public sector, etc., will be noted but also they will reiterate admonitions on the continuation of reforms.

It will also underline the government’s commitments to reduce public arrears and outstanding pensions by the end of the year and the agreement on a zero-sum schedule. The adjustment of the objective prices will be mentioned, although the implementation of the new ENFIA property tax will take place in 2022.

For the Greek debt, the Commission is expected to confirm its viability – despite its increase – as Greece will have, at first, low service costs and a satisfactory cash reserve (30-33 billion euros).