OECD

Interior Minister Niki Kerameus said Friday that the consultation process with parliamentary party representatives on postal voting will begin upon her return from Paris, where she is currently chairing the OECD's Global Strategy Group meeting.

Economy Minister Bogdan Bogdanov's visit to South Korea has laid the groundwork for a strategic memorandum between the two countries. Discussions held in Seoul with Korean officials, including Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun, revealed plans for enhanced economic collaboration through a bilateral trade and investment promotion agreement.

The quality of education in Greece is steadily declining. At least that's what the Greek students' performance in the most recent OECD-organized PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) competition in 2022 indicates. In the last 10 years, Greek pupils have performed worst in text comprehension, math and science, the three areas in which the competition evaluates proficiency.

The latest findings from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) unveiled the ongoing academic challenges faced by Bulgarian students, particularly in math. The results, presented on Tuesday, disclosed that the average math score of Bulgarian students remains notably lower than the OECD average, holding steady at 417 points, while the OECD average stands at 472.

Greece is grappling with workforce shortages in both manual and specialized sectors of the economy. Discussions and corresponding policies are focused on identifying additional workers to fill positions associated with investments and to sustain positive growth rates. However, a second challenge looms.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has revised Bulgaria's economic growth forecasts in its latest World Economic Outlook report, signaling a 1.7% growth rate for 2023, slowing due to external factors, with a projected acceleration to 2.8% in 2024.

The Greek economy is projected to grow by 2.4% this year and 2% in 2024, rising again to 2.4% in 2025, the OECD said in its economic survey report released on Wednesday.

The Paris-based organization said that Greece's strong economic rebound from the Covid-19 crisis is being put to the test by surging energy and food prices and renewed global uncertainty.

Corporate profits are fueling inflation to a large extent in Greece and will continue to do so in the coming years, according to the fall forecasts of the European Commission, which confirm previous relevant estimates of the OECD and calculations of other independent bodies, including the Bank of Greece.

Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel expressed gratitude to Germany for its robust backing of Bulgaria's swift accession to the Schengen zone. During a joint press briefing with her German counterpart Annalena Baerbock in Berlin, Gabriel emphasized the significance of Germany's unwavering support at this pivotal juncture.

OECD officials will reportedly study every aspect of the operation of Greece's educational structures and the evaluation system to promote broad changes.