EU Commissioner Moscovici: Greece a rare case of EU growth forecast revised upwards

Greece is one of those rare cases in which the European Commission’s forecast for growth in the next years have been revised slightly upwards, European Commissioner for Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici stated on Thursday during the presentation of EU interim forecasts.

Asked about Greece during the press conference, the French commissioner explained that the autumn forecasts are not directly comparable with the winter ones, as the former have been based on the technical presumption that there will be no changes in the country’s fiscal policy.

However, Greece has since implemented a package of measures of expansionary fiscal policy, expanding expenses before the 2019 state budget was concluded, he added. “This technical presumption of a tighter fiscal policy would led to lower consumption,” said Moscovici, adding that now the forecest is more optimistic (2.2 pct for 2019 and 2.3 pct for 2020 instead of 2 pct announced in November).

He also noted that the forecast in the first report of the post-bailout-memorandum era were similar.

Finally, Moscovici said that as he confirmed on his recent trip to Athens, these positive elements are reflected in the microeconomic climate. “Let’s hope that it will be proven true”, he concluded.

Source: ANA-MPA

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