By Stanatis Zisimou

The new development law will mobilize investments of 4 billion euros by the end of 2026, Development Minister Takis Theodorikakos said in an exclusive interview with Naftemporiki.

The first announcements of the new law will be made this month, and gradually within the next year and a half, the State will allocate aid in the form of grants and tax exemptions of more than 1 billion euros.

An amount of 1.3 billion euros will be added from the Loan Fund in cooperation with the European Investment Bank, another 500 million euros from the DELFI financial tool of the Hellenic Development Bank, while more than 1 billion euros from private participation.

In his interview, Theodorikakos spoke about the new development model, which focuses primarily on manufacturing and border areas and revealed that all businesses that invest within industrial areas would receive additional incentives.

The Minister of Development referred to the need and initiatives for the implementation of development infrastructure, the attraction of foreign investment and the support of the primary sector.

He explained the reasons why he was proceeding with the creation of an independent Consumer Protection Authority, which will operate within 2026, and noted the excessive burden on households due to the housing crisis.

UBS sees a strong corporate credit cycle, with continued momentum for Greek banks, according to a new report based on Bank of Greece data for April, which shows a 14% increase in related loans so far this year.

This is despite stagnation compared to the strong base in March, when it increased by 2.5%.

Optimism about achieving their goals

According to UBS assessment, the results of the first quarter of 2025 showed that Greek banks are ahead of their plans for the year in terms of executing credit expansion, with management maintaining its optimism about achieving net interest income (NII) targets.

Even though the sector has performed well this year (+54% since the beginning of the year), UBS estimates that there is room for an upward revision of valuations, as valuations remain attractive in both European and emerging markets.

Loans and deposits

As UBS pointed out, Greek banks' corporate loan yields fell by 12 basis points in April to 4.64%, from a high of 6.47% in 2023. Regarding household mortgage loans, UBS saw stabilization, while net credit flows were close to turning positive. At the same time, it saw a small quarterly increase in consumer loans, following the large reduction in Greek household loans.

More specifically, housing loans fell by up to 70% from their highs and consumer loans by 80%.

Moreover, the reduction in the cost of deposits has started to gain ground (-3 on a monthly basis, -9 points since the beginning of the year) to 0.40%, as the cost of household term deposits decreased by 8 basis points annually and corporate term deposits by 12 points. Also, the deposit mix remained favorable with demand deposits contributing 75% of total deposits at a cost of only 5 points.