Main opposition New Democracy (ND) party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis stuck to his pro-reform and pro-market message during an interview with CNN on Monday, as he continued a visit to the United States amid opinion polls results showing center-right ND comfortably leading leftist SYRIZA ahead of a general election year.
Mitsotakis told the international news network that the Greek economy’s performance has fallen below its potential over the past four years, which coincided with the third bailout for the country.
The former minister said annual growth rates of 1 to 2 percent are insufficient for the recession-battered country and Greek citizens. As such, he said major investments are necessary to boost economic recovery into the higher single-digit territory.
In touching on continued concerns over the domestic banking sector, he called on business leaders to return corporate deposits to the country, money exported prior to absolute capital controls imposed by the Tsipras government in late June 2015.
Mitsotakis estimated that some 12 billion euros in Greek corporate reserves are held outside the Eurozone member-state’s credit system, while calling on the business world to support recovery efforts by showing their confidence in the Greek banking sector.
Moreover, he again promised tax cuts for individual taxpayers and businesses, saying residents in the country are incredibly pressed from the current leftist government policy of over-taxation.
He told a CNN interviewer that Greece will be a “positive surprise” for the international investors in the next two to three years.
