By Natasa Stasinou and Fanis Zois

 

 

The climate in the economy and entrepreneurship after the recovery of the investment grade and the reforms-catalysts for the development course dominated the conference held by "Naftemporiki",entitled "Upgrading Greece".

 

Multiple upgrading of the Greek economy has been shown in the fields of investments, exports, the labor market, through the training and retraining of employees, research and innovation, the environment and the constitution of the state:

 

These are the main axes where the government is focusing its efforts, as they were highlighted through the Economic - Business Conference of "Naftemporiki". 

 

The key speakers were the Ministers of Transport Christos Staikouras, Development Kostas Skrekas, Labor Adonis Georgiadis and the Deputy Minister of Economy Nikos Papathanasis.

 

 

Greece is being upgraded and leading the way, Development Minister Kostas Skrekas said during the economic and business conference organized by ‘Naftemporki.’

“Greece, which was the black sheep of Europe, suddenly became a model country, an economic miracle,” he noted. However, he explained that “much more needs to be done to get the country where it needs to be” adding that “the Greek government, business and society will do this together.”

Skrekas underlined that Greece is the first country to increase spending on research and innovation and stressed that the main goal of the government is to connect research and innovation with the market.

 

“Greece is also upgrading in terms of the digitization of the state. It was proven during the pandemic that Greece and its citizens can adapt very quickly and embrace technology,” he said. “This government proved that Greece can be a pioneer if it wants to and if there is political will,” he said.

 

 

 

For his part, the Minister of Labor, Adonis Georgiadis, underlined that the funds to be disbursed over the next four years for the implementation of training and retraining programs for employees, in the context of lifelong learning, amount to more than 4 billion euros. At the same time, he also referred to the interventions that will be made and concern the treatment of the demographic problem and the increase in the participation of women, young people and retirees in the labor market.

 

Five pillars of action 

 

The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Staikouras spoke about five pillars of action and initiatives, which are at the core of the government's policy in this critical sector. These include small and large projects, amounting to 986 million euros, strengthening electrification with 65 million euros, supplying 250 new electric buses, developing a sustainable urban mobility model and securing community funding for the implementation of new projects and the maintenance of existing ones.

 

 

Alternate Economy and Finance Minister, Nikos Papathanasis, highlighted the government’s commitment to reforms, as well as the network of tools it is mobilizing to implement it.

 

“We are a reformist government that wants to create the right conditions for entrepreneurship. It is valuable to create jobs, to reduce unemployment and help young people find work,” he pointed out and added: “We want – by upgrading Greece – to create a pro-investment climate.”

 

Addressing an economic and business conference organized by ‘Naftemporiki’, he said that “focused on our fiscal work, there is no room to deviate at all. We will stay within our fiscal targets.”

 

 

 

“The Greek economy is on a good track. It has enhanced its attractiveness as an investment destination and we have seen and continue to see that the increase in foreign direct investment began long before we even reached the investment grade,” Dimitris Vergados, Director of the Media & Information Sector of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), noted stressing that “ now we have the opportunity to see where we stand and especially where we want to go.”

 

On his part, Vassilis Kazas, CEO of Grant Thornton, highlighted the increase in private investment as one of the main challenges for the Greek economy. “Without an increase in private investment and without the productive transformation of our economy, we have no future,” he said, noting that investment in fixed equipment in Greece is 14% of GDP, while the average in Europe is 24%. “This percentage must increase to at least 18% and concern specific sectors such as industry, infrastructure, energy, etc.” he pointed out.

 

 

 

“We are definitely living a growth story. Against all trends, forecasts, Greece has recently recorded higher growth rates than the European average,” Konstantinos Adamopoulos, CFO of Intrakat, underlined.

 

Adamopoulos referred to the investment gap, which – as he said – is not due to public investments, that are stable at the European Union average, but has to do with private investments, which fall well short of the European average.

 

Alexandros Daniilidis, managing director of Athenian Brewery and president of E.C.R., noted that the investment grade “is positive news for the Greek economy, it will be reflected in consumption and growth, so it will indirectly affect us as well.” 

 

 

 

As Daniilidis pointed out “Greece has performed well for many reasons, but this does not mean that we can be complacent. It needs a lot of work, investment in a lot of areas and I think this is being overlooked,” he warned.

 

Greece, as he said, is a country that has a small market but industries and retailers are forced to invest huge amounts to be able to cover the very large increase in demand in a very short period of time.

 

According to Athanasios Kouloridas, President of the Management Committee of the Association of Listed Companies, we have two very big challenges ahead of us. The upgrade of the Greek economy and the consequent upgrade of the stock market require structural changes both at the market level and at the level of business extroversion.

 

“We have a stock market in which we have very large discrepancies between large and small companies in terms of capitalization, organization, returns and so on. We should, as strange as this sounds, clean up the market, give the possibility to companies that do not want and find it difficult to stay on the stock market to go to the alternative market. And to emphasize how we will make the IPO even more competitive,” he explained.

 

He also noted that “we have not prepared at all for what is happening both at the organizational and legal-regulatory level with the adoption of all these EU regulations for ESG. A company in order to be financed must now comply with environmental requirements, have a social policy, etc. “We will have to adapt immediately. This is already starting to appear in very large companies and in five years it will apply to everyone,” he underlined.