Government underlines intent to continue reforms

Government underlines intent to continue reforms

Government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos underlined the government's unflagging intent to continue reforms while outlining the hallmarks of political and economic policy in the coming period to reporters on Monday. He stressed that the government had from the first opted for a different developmental model, one that broke with the past and emphasised reforms designed to boost enterprise, competitiveness, foreign exports and investment abroad, in the belief that only an economy with these features could guarantee a better future for all Greeks. At the same time, the government had also emphasised mild economic adjustment to reduce the huge deficits of the past and restrict public-sector wastefulness, Roussopoulos said. These efforts had yielded tangible results that had been acknowledged by international organisations and had proved the pessimists wrong, he added. "Instead of a recession we have had growth. In the two first trimesters of 2006 we had growth rates of 4.1 percent. Instead of an increase in unemployment we have had a reduction, from 11.3 percent in the first trimester of 2004 to 9.7 percent in the first trimester of 2006. Public debt and the public deficit have been significantly reduced, from 6.9 percent of GDP in 2004 to 4.5 percent of GDP in 2005, while the latest figures show that we are now within EU limits. Demand is increasing, while the retail trade index rose in the first five months of 2005 by 4.8 percent in relation to 2004 and by 7 percent during the same period this year," Roussopoulos reported. He also pointed to the strong incentives provided under the government's new developmental package, under which 1,403 investment schemes worth a total of €2.2 billion and directly creating 7,166 new jobs had received approval in the 16 months since it went into effect. Roussopoulos refused to say, however, whether the prime minister intended to announce an easing of fiscal austerity measures in view of these positive results in September, noting only that the government had made clear pre-election pledges that it intended to honour by the end of its term. Regarding high prices, meanwhile, the spokesman admitted that there were problems and that the government had taken a series of actions to combat price gouging and unjustified price hikes. In response to questions regarding reforms in education, meanwhile, Roussopoulos underlined that these had neither stopped nor been postponed, and that the education ministry had unveiled its draft bill for public dialogue.