THE Giannis Stournaras he reiterated that the underground economy in Greece exceeds 40 billion euros, while, as he said, the social usefulness of existing tax breaks and whether they concern the truly vulnerable should be re-examined.
The governor of the Bank of Greece, Giannis Stournaras, requested the review of all tax exemptions by the political leadership of the Ministry of National Economy, as, as he said, “the country needs revenue”.
He also argued that the revenues expected to be collected by the State from the sale of the shares held by the Financial Stability Fund, even though they are small compared to those allocated for their rescue, are not small if the benefits it has received from the PSI are taken into account as well as high dividends allocated by the Bank of Greece which mainly come from the ELA (including the liquidity it granted to the Banks).
He reiterated that the underground economy in Greece exceeds 40 billion euros, while, as he said, the social usefulness of existing tax breaks and whether they concern the truly vulnerable should be re-examined.
Speaking at the conference organized by the Circle of Ideas, the commander of the Greek Orthodox Church said that Greece “has come back from the brink and is now an international success story”.
Despite this, as he mentioned, there are delays in several areas, such as that of the awarding of Justice. However, he expressed his support for the minister in charge George Floridisemphasizing that “he will make it”.
He also recommended the continuation of the “orthodox fiscal policy” in order for the Budget to double its primary surplus to 2% of GDP in 2024. He added that the Public Debt is decreasing rapidly, estimating that this year the real wages in the country will increase.
For the banks he said they are adequately capitalized even though 50% of their capital consists of deferred tax and expressed the expectation that they will appear apart from Unicredit which has expressed interest in acquiring 9% of Alpha Bank, and other strategic investors for National Bank and Piraeus Bank.
Regarding the course of interest rates, he predicted that if inflation has fallen below 3% on a permanent basis in August 2024, the European Central Bank is likely to proceed with a small reduction in its key interest rates.
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