Trade with Greece
36
Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Ministry officials estimate that, noticing these
changes, certain corporations started treating
Greece differently, and cite as examples Unilever,
Hewlett Packard and Philip Morris, which are
expanding their operations in the country.
“Of course, the situation remains tough and there
is absolutely no room for complacency”, add the
same sources, also emphasizing that: “On the
other hand, though, 2013 will be a challenging
year. A year at the end of which we will see the
first signs of recovery, provided that we work in a
planned and consistent manner.
So, the target for 2013 is to make the transition
from deep recession to recovery, the “heavy
artillery” of this effort being the recapitalization of
the banking system that is underway; however, in
order to stay ahead of developments the govern-
ment is also taking the following steps:
First:
The agreement with the EIB regarding
SMEs will be implemented in 2013, along with the
provision of another
€
400 million, out of total
funds of
€
1.44 billion, raising total financing for
this period to
€
1 billion.
Moreover, based on the EIB’s announcements,
the implementation of the programme for the pro-
vision of guarantees for commercial banks to
finance the international operations of
import/export companies will begin in April. These
are revolving facilities, whose total amount is
expected to reach
€
1.5 billion on an annual basis.
Second
, in regard to the NSRF:
● The fund absorption target that has been
agreed for the year 2013 stands at
€
3.890 bil-
lion – in other words it is larger and much more
ambitious than last year’s.
● Priority projects that need to be accelerated,
especially those included in Greece’s obliga-
tions under the memorandum, such as
“Elenxis”, the national registry, the infrastruc-
tures for solid waste management, as well as
The fund absorption target that has been agreed for the
year 2013 stands at
€
3.890 billion - in other words it is
larger and much more ambitious than last year’s.
”
“
