Economy of Europe

The government can print money, but it should be used only for the fight against the pandemic, Faik Öztrak, deputy chair and the spokesperson of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), has said.

Öztrak also urged the government to prepare a new medium-term economic program to tackle the worsening economic conditions.

In an article published in Tuesday's Kathimerini, Finance Minister Christos Staikouras calls on his colleagues in the Eurogroup council of eurozone finance ministers to show solidarity as they convene on the same day and approve "a catalytic move that will offer a strong injection of liquidity to the economy."

Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras on Wednesday spoke openly on Bloomberg in favor of a so-called "corona bond," warning that unless joint fiscal action is taken Europe will face a new debt crisis.

National Bank of Greece (NBG) on Tuesday reported sharply lower net profit in the fourth quarter compared to July-to-September on the back of weaker trading and net interest income and higher provisions for impaired loans.

Piraeus Bank grew full-year 2019 net profit, helped by lower operating costs and higher net interest income, Greece's largest lender by assets said on Monday.
Piraeus Bank, which is 26.2 percent owned by the country's HFSF bank rescue fund, reported a net profit of 270 million euros after net earnings of 185 million in 2018.

Greece has seen an increase of at least 50 percent in internet use in recent days following the government's decision to restrict citizens' movements to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, according to officials at the Digital Governance Ministry who indicated however that telecommunications networks are handling the strain so far.

Fraport Greece and Copelouzos Group, in a joint donation shared equally by the two companies, on Thursday announced that they will give 500,000 surgical masks to support the Greek health system in its battle against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Greek borrowing costs fell sharply on Thursday following the European Central Bank's (ECB) decision to include Greek government bonds in an emergency assets purchases program.

The ECB triggered new bond purchases worth 750 billion euros ($816.90 billion) at an emergency meeting late on Wednesday to stop a pandemic-induced financial rout from shredding the euro zone's economy.

Greece expects lower borrowing costs following its inclusion in an emergency assets purchases' program launched by the European Central Bank (ECB), its finance minister said.

Despite the pressure on banks at the Greek bourse on Tuesday that looked as though it might drag the benchmark lower still, most of the rest of the market posted healthy gains that saw the main index come off a four-year low, on improved turnover too.