Recession

The coronavirus epidemic is subsiding, but the war is not won yet, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a televised message this evening, thanking the Greek people for their trust and discipline and calling on them to continue to respect restrictive measures.

The Greek office market appears shielded against the upcoming recession, at least as far as modern office buildings are concerned, as demand for them is expected to remain high due to their scarcity.

In 2020 France will undoubtedly experience its worst year of economic recession since the end of World War II. This was forecast today by Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire during a hearing in the French Senate's Committee on Economic Affairs.

Greece's finance minister said on Friday he expected the economy to contract by 3 to 4 percent this year due to lockdown measures imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus, marking a significant downward revision from his previous estimate.

The global economy could shrink 0.9% this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs (U.N. DESA) said on April 1. 

The world output could contract further if imposed restrictions on economic activities extend to the third quarter, and fiscal responses fail to support income and consumer spending, the U.N. body said.

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.

Foreign analysts appear more pessimistic than the Bank of Greece's baseline scenario for 0 percent growth this year due to the coronavirus epidemic, saying a recession appears inevitable, especially in the first half of the year, mainly due to tourism.

The government on Wednesday announced a 3.8-billion-euro package of measures to soften the blow to the economy from the coronavirus epidemic. The package aims to support workers, the self-employed and enterprises, as the first mass layoffs have already been recorded and the risk of a painful recession is looming large.

Turkish economy is projected to post higher growth this year, said the head of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) on Feb. 6.  

"The components of this growth forecast are comprised of the rise in public expenditures and especially the expansion in the balance sheets of public banks," Simone Kaslowski told a regular meeting of general assembly held in Istanbul.

Greece's annual EU-harmonised inflation rate accelerated in December, statistics service ELSTAT data showed on Monday.
The reading was 1.1 percent from 0.5 percent in November. The data also showed that headline consumer price inflation picked up to 0.8 percent from 0.2 percent in the previous month.