GREEK ECONOMY

The 2020 draft budget plan tabled in Parliament by the Greek government is compatible with achieving the fiscal goal for a primary surplus, the Parliament's Budget Office said in a report on Friday. However, the report noted there were uncertainties related with the room to save operating spending, the efficiency of incentives for e-transactions and the height of the growth rate.

The European Commission has found Greek plans aimed at supporting the reduction of non-performing loans of Greek banks to be free of any State aid. The Commission found that, under the asset protection scheme (known by the name of “Hercules”), the Greek State will be remunerated in line with market conditions for the risk it will assume by granting a guarantee on securitised non-performing loans.

Greece can achieve a 2.8 percent economic growth rate forecast in its 2020 budget draft if foreign investment activity picks up, says Kathrin Muehlbronner, Senior Vice President at Moody's Investors Service, in comments to Business Daily on Wednesday.

The budget sees gross domestic product expanding by 2.8 percent in 2020, versus a previous forecast of 2.3 percent in the country's mid term plan. This year, however, Greece's growth forecast will miss the mark, with expansion seen at 2 percent, as opposed to the 2.3 percent target previously set.