Greece is on the right track to sustainable growth, says OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria




“Greece is in the right direction,” said OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria on Tuesday, during a press briefing at the end of the first of two days of the OECD’s 4th Ministerial Meeting of the Regional Development Policy Committee (RDPC) in Athens, alongside Deputy Prime Minister and Economy and Development Minister Yiannis Dragasakis.
Participants at the meeting include EU’s ommissioner for regional policy Corina Cre?u, Spain’s deputy minister for territorial policy Ignacio Sanchez Amor and Turkey’s deputy industry and technology minister Cetin Ali Donmez.
Greece is an exemplary case “of tremendous work and sacrifices” and “it went through dramatic moments trying to reduce its nominal debt, thus slowly creating the prerequisites for servicing its debt over the next 15 years,” added Gurria, who went on to say that “Greece has been rowing upstream, and that requires all the more effort.””
According to the OECD Secretary General, “there is enough primary surplus in the state budget that can be used to pay off interest rates and eventually the debt at large, thus changing the country’s course,” underlining that “the best stress test investors want to see is the recently issued state bond which generated great market interest.” He also mentioned that unemployment, although still high, dropped by 10% and that “banks must ensure spending stays on the right track.”
“Keep a grip on the steering wheel and we’re right behind you,” Gurria said, while he referred to the global rate of economic growth which now stands at 3.2% although it should really be closer to 4%.
Concerning growth in Greece, the OECD head said that Greeks have established the necessary basis to move ahead, adding, however, that the country’s 2% rate of growth is insufficient, but he does not preclude it could improve in the years ahead.
On his part, Deputy Premier Dragasakis said that the crisis’ fallout remains difficult to bear, but that “the downward spiral has been reversed,” and “new companies are being created along with new jobs, exports stand at a record high and there’s a boost in investments.”
Dragasakis emphasized that it is the government’s utmost priority to ensure the judicial system works flawlessly and bureaucracy is reduced to the absolute minimum. He did insist that “when a country is excluded from the markets, there are no investors, but now that we have managed to exit the memoranda, we have lower interest rates and more investment.” Increasing demand, he noted, “creates a better business environment.”
The Greek minister pointed out that “there is no future that can be built on the policies that brought along the crisis and the austerity measures, which caused additional economic destruction,” while he highlighted that “for inclusive growth to become reality we need a new generation of progressive reforms, institutions and tools, achieved via a new model of fair and sustainable growth.”
In the spirit of the OECD policies, Dragasakis added, “the fight against inequalities is our major priority,” concluded Dragasakis.

Source: ANA-MPA

Hellasjournal - Newsletter


%d bloggers like this: