Greek business community stays strong

­Business as usual
Emphasizing that Greek business people continue to develop their operations in Romania unobstructed by the economic situation at home, Greek Ambassador Georgios Poukamisas told the participants that both Romania and Greece had been called to make great efforts and take difficult decisions towards fiscal consolidation and reforms.
“In Greece there has been vivid discussion about the effectiveness of the stability program and the correctness of the measures that have been proposed to us. Despite the steep recession of last year, the enormous effort and sacrifice of the Greek people have yielded some remarkable results, which unfortunately are not always properly emphasized and have only recently started to be recognized by our partners,” said Ambassador Poukamisas. “To be more explicit, according to data presented by Prime Minister Lucas Papademos during the European Council on 31 January 2012, the current account deficit fell from 15 per cent of GDP in 2008 to 9.4 per cent in 2011. If we exclude the oil trade balance and the debt serving costs, the deficit in 2011 was around zero per cent of GDP, from six per cent in 2008. In turn, the budget deficit declined by 6.5 per cent since 2009, while the primary budget deficit decreased by 8.2 per cent of GDP in just two years. Moreover, in 2010 and 2011, Greece managed to regain over 50 per cent of the competitiveness lost in the interval 2002-2009.” Moreover, the Greek diplomat specified that the private sector involvement (PSI) agreement was going to result in a 100 billion Euro cut in the country’s public external debt. “The second loan agreement and the PSI will increase stability and predictability in the Greek economy and are going to strengthen the position of the Greek banking sector. Of course, what remains to be dome is finding a way to turn our economy back to growth, which is going to be a crucial factor in the time ahead.”