Trade with Greece
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step up the effort of fighting youth unemployment
and gave the green light for the Investment Plan,
a joint EIB-European Commission programme for
financing SMEs, as the main employers in the
European economy.
The action plans of the Ministry of Development
and Competitiveness for the year 2014 are also
moving along the same parameters, all the more
so when Greece has the highest jobless rate in
the EU, while the need for recovery, growth and
cohesion has also become much more pressing.
The Ministry’s plan includes actions aimed at
enhancing liquidity in the market (NSRF, utiliza-
tion of SME-financing tools, the Hellenic
Investment Fund) and boosting market competi-
tion by means of measures designed to drive
down prices and profit margins through the uti-
lization of the OECD toolkit and the practical
assessment of certain measures that have
already been taken or have been announced,
such as those regarding the sales periods and the
opening of retail shops on Sundays, public pro-
curement, the simplification of licensing proce-
dures for manufacturing enterprises, and the
elimination of obstacles to competition.
The year 2014 will be the first year of the imple-
mentation of the new National Support Reference
Framework (NSRF) 2014-2020, whose
Operational and Regional Programmes are cur-
rently under approval by the Commission.
According to the latest announcements, all
Regional Programmes will be retained in the new
programming period and each region will have its
own programme, while there will be a reduction in
the number of centrally implemented Operational
Programmes that cover the entire country.
In terms of absorption, the threat of losing funds
from the NSRF that is about to expire has been
practically eliminated, since project inclusions to
the NSRF have reached 161% of the pro-
gramme’s budget, while the contracting rate
reached 115%, which means that, if some projects
fall behind schedule, there are others that can
immediately draw Community funding. The same
rationale is applied to the revision of the pro-
grammes, in order to cover gaps and ensure the
realization of projects that are mature for financing.
Boosting the fund absorption rate was also made
possible by the increase of Community co-financing
to 90% (given the inability of both the Public
Investments Budget and the private sector to con-
tribute financially), which has already been decided
to remain at this level till 2020.
According to the relevant estimates, in 2014
Greece is expected to receive inflows of 3.5 bil-
lion euros from the NSRF and 4 billion euros from
the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for
the period 2014-2020, which will contribute sub-
stantially to the anticipated stabilization and
recovery of the economy.
The government has also placed hopes for a liq-
uidity injection in the economy on the Hellenic
Investment Fund, which is expected to start oper-
ating in early 2014. The formation of this Fund is
the outcome of an effort that lasted many months,
during which it was necessary to overcome the
objections initially expressed by the Troika itself.
According to available information, the Fund will
start operating with a contribution of 350 million
euros from the Greek state (PIB and NSRF),
while a memorandum of understanding has also
been signed with Germany’s KfW, regarding the
latter’s participation with up to 100 million euros;
in addition, the European Investment Bank has, in
principle, stated its intention to participate in the
Fund, the Onassis Foundation has signed a rele-
vant memorandum with the Ministry of
Development in order to participate with up to 30
