Greece’s finance minister put the economic damage entailed in the ongoing pandemic as causing a recession of 4 percent of GDP for the ongoing year, which was originally forecast to reach an increase of 2 percent previously.
FinMin Christos Staikouras said current data showed the year closing with a shrinking economy of between 3 and 4 percent.
The government is particularly concerned with the pandemic’s impact on the all-important tourism sector, as with only a couple of months before the peak season practically all travel has ceased and bookings have more-or-less frozen.
“We’re throwing new weapons into the fray every day, but we’re also keeping stockpiles for the day after in the economy, when the crisis ends; 15.7 billion euros from a ‘cushion’ and 20 billion from cash reserves of the state and general government entities, commercial banks and the Bank of Greece.”
