Time to take a hard look at debt sustainability, says OECD chief


 Angel Gurria speaks to Kathimerini about the Greek economy and foresees growth of up to 20 pct of GDP over the next 5-20 years

By Eleni Varvitsiotis

A few days after Greek Parliament approved a number of reforms proposed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the secretary general of the Paris-based institution, Angel Gurria, spoke to Kathimerini about the report on the Greek economy, the sustainability of the nation's debt and predictions about growth over the next 20 years.

The latest OECD report sees growth returning to the eurozone in 2014 but unemployment remaining at high levels.

Growth is still growth. And this is the result of a number of things. Some of the measures have started to have an effect and we are having results. Countries that were under [adjustment] programs or were under market stress now practically have current account surpluses and it has been a very important transformation in terms of their trade results. Take Spain for example: Of the 600,000 jobs created in Europe, 300,000 were in Spain. Unemployment has stopped growing and over time it will start going down. Exports are also growing faster on average in the European context.

When were you asked to compile the so-called OECD ‘toolkit’ for Greece?

We have been working with Greece on structural issues for many years. We prepare a full economic report on the Greek economy every two years. But it happened that when we got the competition toolkit, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission saw it and said why not follow the recommendations of the OECD which took two years to produce? It is a good thing that the Greek authorities were seeking ways to make...

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