SEV warns against mistakes of past

Following the Eurogroup’s debt relief decision, priority must now be given to growth, along with sticking to reform implementation and responsible fiscal management, according to the head of Greece’s industrialists, Theodoros Fessas, who also warns against a return to the bad habits of the past.

In a statement in the group’s weekly bulletin, the president of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) said that while the Eurogroup agreement may considerably ease the debt servicing needs for the next 15 years, it also “highlights the deficit in trust that would have otherwise allowed for braver measures to support the economy’s return to more dynamic growth rates.”

Fessas noted that “this agreement is not the catalyst that would have accelerated investment, as the high primary surpluses deprive the economy of necessary resources.”

The SEV president further stressed that “there is no other way than the dynamic growth of the economy with investment-friendly policies,” before going on to list three necessary conditions: “first, to avoid any undoing of the reforms implemented, returning to the clientele policies of the past; second, to change the policy mix with an emphasis on reducing non-salary costs; and, third, to avoid any political polarization that could lead to economic instability in the next crucial 18 months.”