IMF report: The significant legacies of the crisis – Risks for the economy



[ad_1]

The results of the Article 4 report on the course of the Greek economy are presented by the IMF. The Fund reports that after a prolonged sharp contraction, growth has finally returned to Greece, but points out that the important legacies of the crisis and the social pressures and risks for the prospect of the economy remain. of a deeply prolonged narrowing development eventually returned to Greece . Strong macroeconomic stabilization, structural reforms and a better external environment contributed to real GDP growth of 1.4% in 2017, supported by substantial support from European partners who secured medium-term sustainability [του χρέους] and restored market access. .

The recovery is expected to accelerate in the near term, with growth expected of 2% this year and 2.4% in 2019 and a drop in unemployment as it closes the output gap. However, there are external and internal risks, including slowing the development of trading partners, the worst global fiscal conditions, regional instability, the internal political calendar and reforming fatigue . Aging populations should exacerbate possible growth exacerbating the need to boost productivity.

Evaluation of the Executive Council

Directors Commend [194590] 12] Principles for Major Reforms and Policy Options in Recent Years That Have Broadly Eliminated Fiscal and Current Account Imbalances, Stabilized the Financial Sector, Reduced Unemployment and restored growth. These huge efforts, combined with debt relief from European partners, enabled Greece to successfully exit the program supported by the MES in August 2018 . In the end, IMF leaders pointed out that remain important legacies of the 19459004 and social pressures as well as risks to the prospects of the economy . In order to address these issues, I encouraged further efforts to balance fiscal policy, strengthen bank balance sheets, and reform labor and product markets to enhance sustainable and inclusive growth

. a major adjustment made up to here Greece did not need additional fiscal consolidation although they pointed out that the realization of high primary surpluses cost for development including high taxation and limited social and investment spending. They declared themselves in favor of a more voluntarist and more inclusive mix of fiscal policies and welcomed the authorities' commitment to implement all tax measures in 2019 and 2020 . IMF Executive Directors Call for a New Balanced Budget to Reduce Direct Taxes and Increase Targeted Social Spending to Support Growth and Reduce Poverty That Remains High

Directors Urged Authorities to Accelerate Efforts to Expedite deal with very high unfunded loans and restore loans. They encouraged banks to intensify the use of strengthened financial and regulatory frameworks and regulatory frameworks that create a better environment to cope with the high exposure to NPLs and the development of a secondary market for loans. unproductive. Some directors also encouraged the authorities to set more ambitious targets for NPLs. They called for capital outflows, additional measures to support liquidity and strengthen internal banking governance. They supported the gradual easing of exchange restrictions in line with the road map and taking into account the liquidity of banks.

Directors emphasized that in the framework of the limited macroeconomic policy additional efforts are needed to boost productivity. competitiveness and social inclusion . Despite significant progress, Greece continues to score below competitive ratios compared to other countries and does not achieve the liberalization of most services in the services sector. Directors urged the authorities to further improve the business climate with the aim of stimulating competition in product markets and maintaining labor market flexibility through low wage policy and collective bargaining reforms. These reforms will help to ensure competitiveness and maintain the momentum of the recovery in employment.

The directors underline the importance of further improvements in public efficiency and the strengthening of governance notably ] the imposition of taxes . In addition to public revenue management efforts, the trustees encourage the authorities to provide adequate protection against the responsibilities of state agents, to implement the anti-corruption plan of action to improve the collection and sale of public funds. transparency of data and modernize the reward system. Justice. They also stressed the need to protect the achievements of the quality of official statistics by defending the statistical service against attempts to undermine its credibility, guaranteeing its professional independence and addressing the remaining shortcomings in disclosure [19659005]. debt relief by European partners and improvement of medium-term debt sustainability. They agreed that this relief combined with a large cash reserve would facilitate market access in the medium term. Some managers felt that in the long run, these measures would significantly reduce borrowing requirements, but many others drew attention to the fact that debt sustainability in the long term remains uncertain and stressed the need to formulate realistic hypotheses. primary surpluses and expected growth rate . Directors welcomed the continued engagement of European partners in Greece to support it in the future and further debt relief if needed

Directors seek close co-operation between authorities and the Fund in post-project monitoring [19659014] (function (d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName (s) [0];
if (d.getElementById (id)) returns;
js = d.createElement (s); js.id = id;
js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_GB/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=176307589079679";
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore (js, fjs);
} (document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); [ad_2]
Source link