Stournaras: Crisis not as bad as in 2015

Central banker Yannis Stournaras voiced his optimism that the economy will recover in 2021, stressing that this crisis is not as big as the previous one.

“The 2015 crisis was far greater and more serious, as it was of our own making, The current crisis is global, symmetric and temporary. It will not leave any scars on the Greek economy, unlike the 2015 crisis that left a price we are [still] paying,” the governor of the Bank of Greece told moneyreview.gr in an interview published on Thursday.

Stournaras, who has been at the central bank’s helm since 2014, noted that in order for Greece to achieve a growth rate in the region of 4% next year, the market will need to reopen in January without closing again.

However, the BoG chief did not appear worried about the prospects of Greek tourism in the coming years, stressing that it has the potential to expand its share further. He also expressed his expectation that the reduction in taxes and social security contributions will continue after 2021 too, and highlighted the fact that bank deposits have increased by 13 billion euros since the start of the pandemic in spring.