Economy Minister: 6.75 billion to enter Greek market by end 2016

The Greek government will put all its weight behind the real economy and intends to start disbursing funds from the very next month, Deputy Economy Minister Alexis Charitsis said on Thursday, in statements to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA).

"There will be 6.75 billion euros directed to the market by the end of 2016. It is an ambitious but achievable target, following the cooperation we have developed in Greece and abroad," he said.

The deputy minister said the sum was a significant amount that would provide substantial relief to the Greek economy, though it did not fully cover the extent of disinvestment that had occurred in Greece over the previous years. "This is a significant sum but it is not enough, therefore we are trying to attract new financing, such as from the European Investment Bank, to boost the Greek economy," he said.

Referring to the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF), he explained that its programmes were based on three pillars: small and medium-sized enterprises, infrastructure on a municipal level and social actions.

"A very great effort was made, a race, so that the programmes will begin on time," he added, noting that the relevant procedures were completed promptly for the first time in years, allowing 190 millon euros to be spent on hiring supply teachers and daycare staff and for more children than ever to be accepted.

The aim was to support those that really needed the programmes and could make real use of the funds, he explained, opening them up to more potential recipients than in previous years. Among these were measures allowing SMEs to collect subsidies through banks without needing a letter of guarantee from financial institutions.

New tourism businesses

Among programmes due to begin next month, Charitsis said, were new tourism businesses and projects linking research and innovation to the real economy.

The minister noted that the economy was affected by general economic and political developments:

"It is therefore very important for a number of actions to go ahead in the coming period, the most fundamental being an agreement on the debt and concluding the second review," he said. The review should conclude on the basis of work done by the Greek government, especially on labour issues, he added.

"For our government this is, I would say, almost an identity issue, to restore a minimal normality in labour relations after the complete deregulation of recent years. So that by the end of 2016 or early 2017, with the banking system also entering the European Central Bank's quantitative easing programme, it acquires the normality necessary for it to be led to a reordering, not a neutral one but a just reordering that will help the Greek economy."

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