The president of Piraeus Bank Michalis Sallas has estimated that the Greek economy will return to growth in the second half of 2016, provided that the bailout program review is completed and the government pushes forward with its privatization plans and reforms.

According to Mr. Sallas, the main axes of the economic recovery will be an improvement in tourism, expediting the works included in the public investment program, improving liquidity and supporting infrastructure projects.

Nevertheless, the bank president expressed his “major surprise” at the “series of statements from foreign analysts that aim to crate a negative, recessive environment for the Greek economy in 2016”.

These predictions, he further commented, are “in complete opposition to our estimations” and explained that in the past even more extreme predictions, from the same experts, were made and “triumphantly proven wrong”.