The European Commission has placed Greece in the same group of countries as Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands, but that is not good news. It is the group of nine eurozone countries in which the Commission’s “Alert Mechanism” identified macroeconomic imbalances. In-depth assessments will follow on whether these imbalances have worsened or are being corrected.

The findings are included in the second part of the European Semester (the first one was presented on November 26), which the Commission presented on Wednesday. Brussels’ warning specifically concerns five areas for Greece (the data refer to 2023): the current account deficit, which was 6.3% of GDP; the net international investment position (-139.3% of GDP); house prices, which increased by 13.8% and are estimated to be overvalued by 20%; the general government debt (63.9% of GDP); and unemployment (at 11.1%).

The report said “vulnerabilities related to the external position, public debt and the banking sector remain, although there are signs of improvement. The current account deficit remained high due to relatively strong domestic demand and is projected to remain high. House prices are increasing strongly. The share of nonperforming loans has declined, but remains high.”

Source: Ekathimerini.com