Gurria: Time has come for further Greek debt relief

By Xinhua

Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has good reason to smile. He’s receiving high praise from Angel Gurria, the OECD general secretary, for his country’s impressive progress and reforms.

The time has come for further Greek debt relief, Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Angel Gurria said here on Monday after meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

“The question of debt has to be addressed by creditors. Now they have to take account of the effort that Greece has made so that they can correspond to that effort by looking into how they can alleviate the burden of the existing debt. Greece has earned the right,” Gurria said in joint statements broadcast by Greek state broadcaster ERT.

The OECD head visited Athens to present to the Greek prime minister the organization’s annual economic survey for Greece as the country this summer is set to exit its third bailout program since 2010.

OECD experts have estimated that Greek economy will grow by 2 percent in 2018 and 2.3 percent in 2019.

Unemployment rates will drop from 21.5 percent in 2017 to 20.4 percent this year and 19.4 percent in 2019, while public debt will shrink to 172.5 percent of GDP in 2018 from 175.8 percent in 2017 and 181.1 percent in 2016.

Greek public debt will stand at 168.3 percent next year, according to the report which suggests further debt relief to support sustainable growth.

Pointing to the positive numbers, Gurria congratulated Greek people for the efforts they made to address the debt crisis, urging them to continue on the path of reform.

“Greece’s efforts are paying off. We no longer talk about Grexit; we talk about the exit of Greece from the program of the institutions,” he said, adding that foundations have been laid for sustainable growth.

“In the last three years, Greece has become a champion in reforms, not only in Europe and the euro zone, but also among the countries of OECD,” Tsipras said on his part.

OECD had been a very important partner for Greece during the difficult years of the crisis, he noted, adding that now the organization will be a constructive partner in the context of efforts to generate sustainable growth for all Greeks.

“Now it is not a time for additional measures for the Greek economy. What is needed is relief from austerity and a good plan to continue reforms and reduce the unnecessary burdens to allow room for larger growth,” the Greek prime minister stressed, acknowledging that more needs to be done.

Greece still has significant challenges to face, OECD experts underlined in the annual report. Athens needs to push through more reforms to deal with poverty and social inequalities, as well as issues of ineffectiveness in the public sector, tax evasion and shortcomings in the framework for investments, according to OECD.