Yannis Stournaras, Governor of the Bank of Greece, has called for the Finance Ministry to reassess all existing tax exemptions, in light of Greece’s revenue needs and a shadow economy surpassing 40 billion euros. The proposal came during his speech at a ‘Kyklos Ideon’ conference today.
Stournaras emphasized the importance of a prudent fiscal policy, with the goal of achieving a 2% GDP primary surplus by 2024. He also projected wage increases in the upcoming year. He highlighted potential revenues from selling Financial Stability Fund shares, which he described as small relative to rescue funds but significant due to PSI benefits and high dividends from the Bank of Greece.
In addition, Stournaras touched upon the issue of strategic investors’ interest in National Bank and Piraeus Bank, following Unicredit (BIT:)’s interest in Alpha Bank. Despite half of bank capitalization being deferred tax, he anticipates this trend will continue.
The central bank governor also predicted that if inflation consistently falls below 3% by August 2024, the European Central Bank (ECB) may lower its key interest rates. He stressed on Greece’s rapid debt decrease due to PSI benefits and hailed the country’s transformation from near catastrophe to global success.
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