The Minister of Finance of Greece stressed that at the moment the course of the economy is very good, the indicators are positive and better than the European average.
The Minister of Finance announced the “freeze” of the increase in floating interest rates on housing loans Christos Staikouras Friday morning (7/4). As he emphasized, within the next week the banking system will announce this decision. The Minister emphasized that at the moment economics is goodindicators are better than the European average, but there are also problems from external crises.
Regarding red loans, he said that one category is those that have gone red, and the other is those that are at risk of turning red due to higher interest rates as payments increase. In the future, he says, this phenomenon will become even worse, because it seems that interest rate hikes are not overand with the banking system “we are trying to find optimal solutions.”
“We couldn’t,” he added, “charge borrowers with increased premiums because, based on ECB rules, that would increase the volume of problem loans.”
Regarding the intervention announced by the government, he said the goal is to catch the perimeter of borrowers whose payments have increased due to higher interest rates. The perimeter of those who appear to have an increase is around 80,000 borrowers, Mr. Staikouras said, and referred to expanded criteria for vulnerable and informed borrowers, adding that 50% of the increase in fees is being paid by banks. Regarding the volume of red loans, he said that banks have 9%, the rest is with credit managers.
Mr. Staikouras focused on three encouraging facts for the Greek economy:
- In a difficult year 2022, 84% of citizens paid all tax liabilities with consequences – a historical record.
- Arrears have increased over the past 4 years, but the number of taxpayers who owe is 400,000 less than in 2018.
- Overdue private debt is 62% of the total debt, while “we got it at 70%.”
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