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Trade with Greece
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Another 650 million euros concern high-priority
NSRF projects that are expected to be delivered
within 2012 (road projects, waste management,
school and hospital projects, etc.). The Greek
economy will also receive 2 billion euros in the
form of advance payments and first instalments
for 150 high-priority NSRF projects that have
been scheduled for completion in 2015.
Thus, the total inflow of EU Fund financing will
reach 15 billion euros in the next three-years.
This amount represents 7.5% of GDP, as well as
huge secondary economic gains.
The increase in the NSRF funds’ absorption rate,
following the reduction of national contribution to
project financing (EU contribution has been
raised to 95%, retroactively applied from 2010), is
a primary target for both the Greek government
and EU officials.
Both the businesses that are plagued by scarce
liquidity, and the jobless who are stoically waiting
for the creation of new jobs, have placed great
expectations on the achievement of this target.
Apart from EU funds, another means of growth is
the Investment Incentives Law (3908/2011). It
should be noted that the Greek government fine-
tuned the Law this April, as part of the effort to
attract investment.
More specifically:
1. The percentage of qualifying outlays for build-
ings, ancillary facilities and the arrangement of
surrounding areas is increased from 40% to
60%. Especially for SME start-ups, this per-
centage is raised to 70%, in response to a
request by Chambers and professional associ-
ations.
2. Investors are not any more required to present
a bank loan approval. Now investors may pres-
ent the loan approval after the project has
been given the green light by the Ministry of
Development and prior to the issuance of the
final confirming decision. This facilitates the
submission of investment plans, overcoming
the current weaknesses of the banking sys-
tem.
3. To date, the Ministry of Development had to