The Governor of the Bank of Greece Giorgos Provopoulos gave a speech at the 81st annual meeting of the bank’s shareholders, where he expressed his estimation that Greece will return to growth after six years of recession.

Mr. Provopoulos explained that determination is necessary in order to fully implement the stabilization program and budget in order to expand the primary surplus and further maintain support the fiscal consolidation taking place. The central banker urged the political system to be decisive to avoid any delays that will exacerbate the social climate and increase insecurity.

According to Mr. Provopoulos, the main priorities must be to reduce the bureaucratic cost of businesses, making the public sector more effective and creating a stable and beneficial tax framework that will encourage investments. Regarding the banking sector, Mr. Provopoulos claimed that Greek system was resilient and that Greek bank accounts were safe.

The central banker remarked that the banking sector will be instrumental in helping the business sector recover, by investing in dynamic, extroverted businesses that are aiming to grow. Mr. Provopoulos also underlined that the improvement of macroeconomic divs will bring a gradual normalization of credit growth.