Development Minister Georgiadis to OT: Greece consolidated an ‘acquired effectiveness’ through successfully dealing with pandemic

The pandemic has caused major damages to the Greek economy and the business world, yet amid the calamity a type of “acquired effectiveness” has been consolidated, Development & Investments Minister Adonis Georgiadis underlined this week, in an article for OT.

In pointing to a mini “production transformation” in the country over the past year, Georgiadis said there was practically no production of face masks and anti-septic means in March 2020, with demand covered almost entirely by imports. Fourteen months later, and via an accelerated licensing process, not only is demand being met, but Greek producers are now exporting to advanced countries.

“When Greece faced with the pandemic crisis, European and international organizations and ratings agencies forecast that the Greek economy would have a double-digit recession, and, in fact, post the worst performance in the Eurozone, primarily for two reasons: firstly, due to the high public debt, and secondly, due to the dependence on tourism, an economic activity that was obviously affected the most from the pandemic,” Georgiadis writes.

While the recession in 2020 was punishing, the Greek economy nevertheless exhibited remarkable endurance, essentially proving wrong the initial forecasts, the minister underlines, pointing to continued investment in ameliorating the worst effects of the downturn.

Georgiadis ticked off a handful positive developments, which as he said, offset the economic devastation, such as:

– Greece rising two places in terms of absorbing national framework funds from the EU, with the country now in the “top five” of member-states with a 65 percent absorption rate, compared to 25 percent and 22nd place in July 2019 – when Georgiadis’ center-right New Democracy party succeeded leftist SYRIZA in government.

– The country rising six places on an index measuring FDIs, which Georgiadis said is the best performance in the past 11 years, and rising nine places in terms of global competitiveness.

– FDIs in Greece by major multinationals, such Microsoft, Pfizer, Cisco, Digital Realty, Deloitte and Volkswagen, something Georgiadis said was unfathomable just a few years ago.

– Progress towards two milestone privatizations and investments, namely, Lamda Development’s massive property development at the coastal Athens Helleniko site, and Eldorado Gold’s gold mining concession in northern Greece, which the minister reminded were blocked for years.

– An unprecedented digitization of Greece’s proverbially creaky public sector, and accelerated use of IT applications for businesses, with Georgiadis underlining that “…in a few months progress was made that would have taken years under other conditions.”

Elsewhere, Georgiadis said the biggest-ever support program for affected businesses and wage-earners, reaching 38 billion euros, was allocated in 2020-21.