Six-pronged restart blueprint

The Finance Ministry is already planning for the next stage of the country's economic revival, hoping that the first, starting today with the opening of some stores, will go ahead without any significant problems. The main challenges for the government lie in six areas: tourism, transport, exports, investments, employment and banks.

For now the ministry is swamped with requests from business entities seeking support to minimize the uncertainties of the near future. However, the budget margins are specific. On Monday or Tuesday Minister Christos Staikouras will listen to the demands of the food service sector that is justifiably worried about its future. A senior ministry source told Kathimerini that "no decisions will be made in the next few weeks" regarding the reduction of value-added tax in the sector.

The government is obviously waiting to see how the situation...