The Governor of the Bank of Greece Giorgos Provopoulos was interviewed by international news agency Reuters and revealed that Greek banks will be undergoing a series of “adverse scenario” stress tests, where the recession is extended for a further two years.
The purpose of the stress tests is to determine whether the country’s largest banks – the National Bank of Greece, Piraeos Bank, Eurobank and Alpha Bank – are able to cope with future crises, after being recapitalized with a 28-billion-euro rescue package from the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund.
While the similarly “adverse scenario” stress tests from 2011 and 2012 have been exceeded, the central banker warned that these stress tests should not be treated as predictions.
Mr. Provopoulos claimed that he was “increasingly optimistic” about the future of the Eurozone and Greek economy, underlining the estimations of a return to growth in 2014.
