More Greek businesses folding as economy contracts

Leading trade credit insurance company Euler Hermes, headquartered in Paris, estimates that the Greek economy contracted by 0.4 percent in 2015 and will shrink 1 percent this year, to be followed by a rebound of 2 percent in 2017.

The company’s estimates were presented on Tuesday in Athens, and came with a warning that for Greece to tackle its public debt it will need to produce gross domestic product growth rates of 5-6 percent per annum from 2018 onward.

Euler Hermes also expects the number of Greek companies going bankrupt to rise 5 percent this year compared with 2015, when there was an increase of 10 percent from 2014.