FinMin: Greece Sets Ambitious Targets for 2022

Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikouras. Photo source: @cstaikouras

Greece is aiming to exit its enhanced surveillance status in 2022, said Finance Minister Christos Staikouras this week during the 4th Athens Investment Forum.

The minister said Greece was on track for a strong economic recovery and presented the government’s policy which prioritizes achieving sustainable and equitable growth.

Also addressing the 1st “The Greeks are Back” conference, Staikouras said Greece has managed to effectively meet the demands of unprecedented challenges such as the Covid-19 crisis and climate change.

Major reforms, including tax incentives to attract investments and human resources as well as instilling confidence among partners, investors and markets were key to the country’s positive performance, Staikouras said.

Looking ahead, the minister announced a series of targets for the next two years, including:

– achieving high and sustainable rates of economic growth from 2021,
– improving GDP composition to include more investment and export activity,
– ending the enhanced surveillance program in 2022,
– reaching a single-digit percentage of non-performing loans in 2022,
– recording realistic primary surpluses as of 2023,
– and acquiring an investment grade rating in 2023.

“We know where we are, where we want to go, and how we want to get there. We have a coherent plan to lead the country to high, sustainable growth, to the creation of many good jobs and to the reinforcement of social cohesion,” he said.

Last month, the European Commission commended Greece for advancing reforms and meeting commitments agreed to as part of its post-bailout program despite the challenging circumstances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and noted that the economy was demonstrating an “earlier-than-expected recovery”.

In its 11th enhanced surveillance report, the Commission confirmed that real GDP increased by 4.5 percent and 3.4 percent on a quarter-on-quarter basis in the first two quarters of the year after an 8.2 percent slump in 2020.