Peterson Institute for International Economics

I first met Andrew Liveris in 2012 in Florida, at the most significant annual meeting of prominent Greek Americans of the Leadership 100 organization, which had been founded by Archbishop Iakovos. It was during the peak of the Greek economic crisis and the forecast was grim.

Europe faces painful "industrial rationalisation" due to its energy crisis that risks political trouble, the head of Shell warned Sunday, as the oil giant joined a natural gas project in Qatar.

Bulgarian recovery and sustainability plan is inadequate, but must be submitted to the EU in time, warned Simeon Dyankov and Milen Velchev, former financial ministers.

Both former finance ministers were adamant that prompt revision of the budget is necessary. According to Dyankov, the goal should be to see what is the real state of the national budget.

"Three or four difficult months are in store for the Bulgarian economy. Our major trading partners - Britain, Germany, France - are introducing severe ant-epidemic measures and this will affect all sectors of our economy. The difficulties of vaccination are mounting. Investments in Bulgaria last year shrank by 60%.

The steep contraction of the global economy will be followed by a slow rebound as the coronavirus pandemic starts to subside, Barry Eichengreen, the George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, tells Kathimerini.

The global economy is already in recession, hurt by the novel coronavirus and the extraordinary efforts to contain its spread, according to two leading European economists whom Kathimerini has consulted. They are critical of the European Union attitude, saying mistakes of the past should be avoided. They are also optimistic about a swift rebound.

In previous Notes for Discussion, we have looked at a long-term plan to bring the debt down; issues in state enterprises and whether these might be best managed in the private sector or by public sector managers; and the public sector balance sheet, which should reflect all the debt but also all the assets that the government owns.