Provopoulos calls for change

The BoG manager is calling for all efforts to exit the crisis to begin anew, noticing significant delays and failures in implementing the memorandum, which cancel out the benefits resulting from the massive national effort.

In his report on the Greek economy though, Provopoulos stands against the restructuring of our debt and stresses that such an eventuality would have catastrophic consequences.

Speaking at the general meeting of shareholders, Provopoulos criticized the fact that there has not been sufficient progress in controlling governmental expenses and that reforms do not go as deep as needed and are delayed.

He also noted that the government and the leading political parties did not give proper support to the memorandum and the reforms, thus canceling out any benefits deriving from it.

“The memorandum is treated as a perpetrator of the crisis and it has not been adequately explained that it has reduced the sharpness, which would have been more severe without it. The support to reforms was often weak”, he characteristically underlines in his report.

However, his predictions do not allow for any complacency as he believes that recession will reach 3% and the unemployment rate will exceed 15% with a relatively high inflation, 3 to 3,5%.

He also sent a message to banks about mergers and alliances, seeking “total reorganization and assembly of forces”, and proposed a new type of growth model with a “here and now” philosophy, with tourism, shipping and large investments in the energy sector as the key sources of growth.

Finally, Provopoulos proposes measures and reforms for:

-         strengthening of competition in trade and services,

-         greater flexibility and mobility in the labor market,

-         better targeting and absorption of EU funds,

-         emphasis on education, innovation and research, and

-         change in the current pattern of energy production and consumption.