By N. Bellos
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The Commission forecast for economic growth in the EU, released on Wednesday, is particularly ominous for Greece, saying the ongoing coronavirus crisis will cause a recession of 9.7 percent for 2020, the steepest economic decline in the Union.
A vigorous economic recovery is forecast for 2021, but not enough to make up for 2020’s losses, with the Commission pointing to a 7.9 percent rebound in GDP; 6.3 percent for the Eurozone and 6.1 percent for the EU.
Greece’s debt is expected to increase by 20 percentage points, and reach 196.4 percent of GDP, falling to 182.6 percent in 2021.
Just as ominous, unemployment will rise to 19.9 percent in 2020, dropping to 16.8 percent in 2021.
In an indirect reply hours later from Athens, finance ministry sources merely noted that the Commission’s spring forecasts are based on different estimates of when economic activity will return to normal. Additionally, the same sources said that applied stimulus measures by the government are only partially calculated, leaving out extra liquidity pumped into the market via guarantees worth seven billion euros.
Conversely, main opposition SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras, the former prime minister, blamed what he called the Mitsotakis government’s policies and decisions for making Greece Europe’s “recession and layoff champion”.
