As the impact of the Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF) weakens, growth in Greece is expected to moderate, but it will not decline sharply, argued European Stability Mechanism (ESM) Managing Director Pierre Gramegna in an interview with Kathimerini.

However, he emphasized that the private sector should now come forward more dynamically: “Long-term investments cannot rely solely on European Union funds,” he noted, stressing that a prerequisite for accelerating private investment is “a stable, predictable and growth-friendly economic and regulatory environment.” In any case, according to the EU official, further debt reduction in Greece goes through strengthening competitiveness to address demographic pressures.

Of particular interest is Gramegna’s clarification that “the way in which Greece chooses to use its primary surpluses is an exclusively sovereign decision.” Nevertheless, he defended the strategy of exceeding tax revenue targets, as it leads to a faster reduction in public debt, although he acknowledged that “this may indeed have burdened growth in the short term.”

He also said the election of Greek Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis to the helm of the Eurogroup reflects the achievements of the Greek people.

Source: Ekathimerini.com