By J. Kanoupakis
[email protected]
The Athens-based Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research (IOBE) this week described a mixed picture and stagnation in the Greek economy over the first part of 2017, a year for which European creditors, the IMF and the Greek government itself had forecast GDP growth of up to 2.7 percent.
Weeks after preliminary figures showed a recessionary Q4 2016, IOBE’s quarterly report, unveiled this week, calculated that annual GDP growth in the country will reach only 1.5 percent. That figure, in fact, assumes that no further delays will be recorded in concluding the second review of the Greek bailout program.
The report’s findings coincide with resumed negotiations in Athens this week between creditors’ representatives and the Greek government to conclude the review, which is now more than a year in delay.
IOBE also forecast an increase in consumption by a modest 1 percent, on an annual basis.
In presenting the report, IOBE general director Nikos Vettas emphasized the goal of posting a high primary budget surplus, while adding, however, that such an achievement is no substitute for structural reforms.
The foundation’s president, Takis Athanasopoulos, one of the country’s best-known corporate manager, warned that any further delays in achieving an agreement with creditors to conclude the review risks turning the economic crisis into “social decline”.
