Paying down public debt is the country’s most significant achievement, Stournaras says

“The large advancement successful revenues creates fiscal abstraction and the European Commission gives the go-ahead for portion of this to beryllium redistributed to the citizens. We are reducing the indebtedness by 10 points a year, this is the astir important achievement,” Bank of Greece politician Yannis Stournaras said connected Monday, talking connected SKAI radio.

According to the cardinal banker, Greece has zero accidental of again facing bankruptcy if it sticks to this model, whereas “if the premier curate starts sharing retired indebtedness again, with checks to the people, we volition beryllium backmost wherever we were successful 2010.” A redistribution of income tax, conversely, “proves much effectual successful the pouch of each household than a simplification of VAT.”
Regarding reduced investments, helium pointed to the nexus betwixt lagging investments and debased productivity and existent incomes. “Due to the crisis, we dropped precise debased successful purchasing power. Now we are dilatory converging with the European average, astatine a complaint of 1.5%. If we summation salaries by 30% tomorrow, we volition spell bankrupt. What I mean to accidental is, you cannot summation wages successful a state unless you archetypal summation productivity. Productivity means reforms and investments, making the system much flexible. Greece has a 60% summation successful the investments assemblage since 2019, with 4 fifths of those being productive today,” helium said.
Talking astir the minimum wage, Stournaras pointed retired that a grade of authorities involution exists successful each countries, different it mightiness beryllium adjacent lower. “This does not mean that the authorities decides each salaries, however. The minimum wage is 1 happening and the mean wage is thing else,” helium added, portion again stressing that wage increases indispensable beryllium supported by equivalent productivity.
“If determination is nary specified equivalence, businesses volition unopen down and unemployment volition increase, arsenic happened before. We person gone done this signifier successful Greece. We handed retired precise large wage and pension increases successful the past, with the effect that, successful that period, we had the worst imaginable combination: the lowest maturation successful Europe and the highest inflation. Today we are doing overmuch better,” helium said.
Concerning contention successful the banking sector, Stournaras said helium was pleased that an ecosystem of smaller banks has emerged, referred to arsenic the ‘5th Pole’. “It is not lone Credia Bank but besides Optima, determination is besides Viva and ABB and the cooperative banks. I person said galore times that, successful my opinion, the astir palmy slope successful the state is the Bank of Karditsa because, without immoderate assistance from the state, it was capable to make and prevention radical from Daniel, handing retired loans. We built up the 5th Pole against large difficulties and opposition. Competition is what I privation america to person successful the Greek economy,” the cardinal banker said.

source ANA-MPA