Yannis Stournaras

The Bank of Greece will activate a plan to resolve the 60 pct of nonperforming loans (NPLs) not covered by the "Hercules" plan proposed by the government, bank governor Yannis Stournaras revealed while speaking at the Thessaloniki Summit 2019 on Friday evening.

Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras on Thursday dismissed as "laughable" allegations by three prosecutors who are under investigation for their handling of the Novartis investigation that he threatened a former protected witness in the probe.

In testimony before a Supreme Court prosecutor on Thursday, a former protected witness in the Novartis investigation claimed that he came under pressure from Greek corruption prosecutors to testify against politicians in the absence of any incriminating evidence.

The government is seeking out additional systemic solutions for the banks' bad-loan problem, beyond the state's Hercules plan, Finance Minister Christos Staikouras revealed to Bloomberg on Thursday. His comments came after Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras said that Hercules is a step in the right direction but is not enough.

The presentation of Eleni Varvitsioti and Viktoria Dendrinou's book "The Last Bluff" (published by Papadopoulos) took place on Monday evening in a packed amphitheater at the Benaki Museum annex on Pireos Street, south of central Athens.

While the approval by the European Commission's competition authorities of a Greek plan to cut bad loans at the country's lenders by up to 30 billion euros is an "important step" in the right direction it will not be enough, and will have to be supplemented by the Greek central bank's proposal, Governor Yannis Stournaras said on Friday.

With a special parliamentary committee to be set up in the coming days to investigate the possible mishandling of the Novartis bribery probe, a judicial investigation into claims of political interventions is to continue Monday with the testimony of Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras.

Greece could achieve growth rates in excess of 3 percent under certain preconditions, Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras has said, predicting however that the rate this year will stand at 1.9 percent and will exceed 2 percent in 2020.

Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras based on summer fiscal data, especially the rise in revenues including VAT, projected that the 3.5 percent primary surplus target is achievable for 2019.

More importantly, under current fiscal conditions growth can reach three percent this year.

Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras appeared optimistic on Thursday about the growth prospects of the Greek economy, a view echoed also by US financial group Wood and National Bank.