Crisis-battered Greece continues to post a lower performance than other Eurozone partners in terms of competitiveness, the IMF warned on Thursday, adding that, as a result, it misses out on opportunities to attract much needed investments.
The observation comes in the latest IMF report, which includes a yet another recommendation towards Athens to speed up relevant reforms – a continuing IMF leitmotif over the past decade or so.
As in previous such reports touching on Greece, both before the economic crisis commenced in late 2009 and especially in its wake, the IMF said Greece significantly lags behind its European partners in terms of opening up so-called “closed professions”.
At the same time, the IMF again calls on Athens to improve the business environment in the country and to promote increased competition in markets. As such the Fund stresses that a more flexible labor market, achieved under the “weight” of three successive memorandum bailout programs since 2010, should be maintained. It prescribes a “reasonable” policy in terms of setting the minimum monthly wage scales and keeping recent labor market reforms – i.e. not restoring obligatory collective bargaining agreements between unions and employers’ groups.
