Yannis Stournaras

In his first public statement on the government's fiscal policy after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' 8 May presentation of his stimulus package, which combines benefits and tax cuts, Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras is warning about the danger of fiscal derailment,

Greece will achieve a primary surplus of 3.5 pct of gross domestic product this year based on general government fiscal data for the first quarter of 2019, but it will be unable to exceed this target if current trends prevail over the rest of the year, Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA) on Wednesday.

For three days, 8-10 May, Greek politics will be focused on a vote of confidence that will be held on 10 May
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has invoked his parliamentary right to turn New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis' no-confidence motion against his alternate health minister Pavlos Polakis into a vote of confidence in the government.

For over one year the Novartis affair has fueled constant political tensions and it will be a central issue in the forthcoming general election, which is to be held by October at latest.

To Vima on Sunday reported yesterday that Corruption Prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki (photo) has told the Judicial Council that she expects the case to be wrapped up within the next six months.

The cases against most of the politicians implicated in the alleged Novartis bribery scandal will be shelved next week due to a lack of evidence, according to judicial sources on Tuesday.

The Novartis affair, which was once described by the government as the biggest scandal since the establishment of the Greek state, appears to be fizzling out as the judiciary closed the investigation due to lack of evidence for four politicians and sent only the case of former health minister Andreas Loverdos (Pasok) to parliament with a request that his parliamentary immunity be lifted so that

Central banker Yannis Stournaras warned on Monday of the risks of a fiscal derailment and reform backtracking due to the upcoming election this year, when growth is now expected to come to just 1.9 percent.

Greece's economic growth could be hindered by maintaining high primary surpluses for an extended period, together with high taxation, Central Bank Governor Yannis Stournaras said on Monday.

Stournaras was speaking at the bank's annual shareholders meeting, where it released its annual report on the economy.

Addressing the International Atlantic Economic Conference in Athens on Thursday, Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras set 10 conditions for the Greek economy to achieve higher growth rates in the future.

The Greek Parliament will have to decide whether to lift the parliamentary immunity of Alternate Health Minister Pavlos Polakis as the Supreme Court Prosecutor's Office sent to the legislature the file of the judicial probe of whether the minister surreptitiously recorded and leaked to the press his conversation with Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras.