reason the Bank of Greece had approved the
operation of only one such company.
Moreover, another, even more crucial piece of
legislation, which would relieve bankers from any
criminal or civil liability arising from loan restruc-
turing, gathers dust in some ministers’ drawers. As
a result, no one is signing anything, and thus the
problem is exacerbated instead of being resolved.
That said, according to the latest information, this
“black hole” will close sometime early this summer.
And this will restore Greek business to normality
and the Greek economy back to growth.
More specifically, NPLs currently account for
more than 50% of total gross lending. For exam-
T
he problem is that, as in most cases con-
cerning structural problems of the Greek
economy, all we see is procrastination.
As a result, the problem gets worse, at least for
the time being. The evidence cannot be refuted:
In the first one and a half months of 2017, almost
one billion euros of additional NPLs were gener-
ated, a fact that obviously raises concerns.
In the meantime, the new legislation that would
make it possible to take measures aimed at deal-
ing with the problem is still pending. For example,
at the time of writing, the rules governing the
operation of the companies that will assume this
task in Greece had yet to be clarified, and for this
Trade with Greece
66
Non-performing loans:
A major bet for the
Greek economy
