The Vice President of the Board of Directors and CEO of INTRAKAT Alexandros Exarchou spoke about the Greek economy and the fifth banking pillar at the 3rd Naftemporiki Economic Conference entitled “Productive Greece in the next decade.”
“We also heard from the governor of the Bank of Greece. I think that after this, Greece is going to further improve,” Exarchou stressed.
“The recovery of the Greek economy has indeed been achieved. We’ve achieved and celebrated things that were previously taken for granted, like investment grade. It’s certainly a huge step to get investment grade back up, but it doesn’t mean much if it doesn’t also reflect investment in the real economy,” he added.
“It still needs a lot of work. From my own experience, I did not see a response from the foreign markets – as I at least expected – at the time of the recovery of the investment grade. There is still a lot of caution from foreign investors,” said Exarchou.
He emphasized the need for the productive model, saying that “indeed this must be done. I believe that this will create the economic conditions that allow for its sustainable development in the future. And I believe that if a model of change in productivity is supported, to export, to produce something that will be exported, this will indeed create the foundations for a permanent improvement of the Greek economy.”
“The creation of the fifth banking pillar, i.e. a healthy new bank – whether it is fifth, sixth or seventh is completely irrelevant to us – what did it matter? To completely clean up both Pancreta and Attica. But not just to clean it up, but also to set the conditions for it to be able to have a sustainable relationship with the Greek economy,” noted Exarchou.
“This new bank was a surprise. I believe that it will contribute to the competitiveness of the Greek economy. It will provide solutions to people who have so far struggled to get financing,” he underlined.
