Stournaras expects 5.5 bln from EU funds this year
Advance payments from a European Union recovery fund will finance investments worth 3.3% of the country’s gross domestic product (around 5.5 billion euros) this year, Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras said on Wednesday while also calling on Greek banks to make additional provisions to cover an expected new wave of nonperforming loans.
Addressing an online debate, held in the framework of an initiative by the European Central Bank to re-examine the strategy of monetary policy in the Eurosystem, Stournaras stressed it was necessary that urgent fiscal and monetary measures taken to deal with the consequences of the pandemic be removed gradually when the threat to public health has subsided.
The central banker said that both monetary policy and the operation of the eurozone will be a lot more flexible after the pandemic and noted that the Eurogroup has begun to discuss the replacement of the existing Stability Pact with something much more flexible.
