SEV: Economy is showing some signs of recovery

Three months after the shock that Alexis Tsipras’s previous government generated with the imposition of capital controls, the first positive signs of a return to stability have become discernible, according to the monthly bulletin issued by the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV).

September witnessed a halt in the downward spiral of the economic sentiment index, while the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) in manufacturing started to recover in August and September after nosediving in July, and the labor market showed signs of a return to normality within August, SEV notes.

However, opposition deputy and former alternate economy minister Christos Staikouras noted on Tuesday that the state has returned to primary deficits despite the government’s new austerity measures, while unemployment will this year come to 3 percentage points higher than anticipated last year for 2015.