Greece is pumping more money into its economy

Greece is pumping more money into its economy to support businesses and households affected by the new coronavirus pandemic, as its growth this year will be stronger than originally expected. This will give the government in Athens more room for rescue measures. In 2018, after ten years of financial crisis, Greece withdrew from the rescue program. But last year, its economy fell again by 8.2% due to restrictions on halting the spread of Covid-19, which damaged a vital sector of its economy - tourism. According to the latest forecast, the economy should grow by 5.9% this year instead of the originally expected 3.6%, said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Saturday (September 11), when he outlined a series of measures to reduce taxes. Finance Minister Christos Skaikouras said on Monday that the new forecast was "completely realistic and may even prove to be conservative." In the second half of 2021, the government will spend another 4.4 billion euros to support the economic recovery, which will increase the total amount of aid during the pandemic years 2020-2022 to 42.7 billion euros, said Staikouras. According to the minister, Greece is also considering its first issue of green bonds. It will join several European countries that have already issued green bonds to finance projects with environmental benefits. Staikouras did not talk about the time frame, but a senior Treasury official said it could happen in the second half of next year. Since the end of the rescue programs from the European Union, the euro area and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2018, Greece has relied exclusively on markets for its financing needs. Staikouras said the government was considering early repayment of IMF and eurozone loans. A representative of the Ministry of Finance added that this could happen in 2021 or 2022.