Praise for the improvement of its weaknesses but also remarks about challenges facing its economy, a Commission report reserved for Greece, as while it did well in reducing the debt, it still faces challenges in relation to investments, productivity but and with the “red loans”.
And this is because, as the Commission emphasizes, Greece shows gaps in productivity and competitiveness as during the years of the debt crisis there was a decline in business investment, from 34% of GDP in 2008 to 13.4% of GDP in 2019 and in 15 % of GDP in 2022, well below the European average, as there are high levels of debt as a percentage of their profits, as interest from the previous decade.
As for the current account deficit, it is noted that it increased significantly in the three years 2020-2022 and decreased by a third in 2023, however it remains higher than the pre-crisis levels.
In addition, “red loans” continued to decline, but without much progress in reducing the portfolio of servicers that continues to weigh on balance sheets and the creditworthiness of the private sector.
