ATHENS – Finance Minister Christos Staikouras met on Tuesday with the Secretary General of the OECD Mathias Cormann, at the finance ministry.

The meeting preceded the signing of the memorandum of understanding for the founding of a thematic centre of the organisation for economic cooperation and development in Crete and the presentation of the OECD Report on Greece, which took place with the participation of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the Maximos Mansion.

During the meeting at the finance ministry, Staikouras thanked Cormann for his support for the founding of the OECD centre in Crete, which will act as a hub for skills development, research and international political and scientific dialogue to support and complement the organization’s work.

Referring to the OECD Report on Greece, the Minister of Finance said that it records the strong recovery of the Greek economy, the significant upgrading of its production capabilities and the high resilience it has shown during the last three years.

Staikouras also referred to the significant reduction in unemployment, the improvement of fiscal figures, the qualitative upgrade of the development model, and the significant progress in restoring the stability of the Greek banking system.

In addition, he pointed out the increased challenges created by the energy crisis and the increase in inflation worldwide and expressed his belief that – despite these challenges – the Greek economy has been shielded in order to record, again in 2023, a positive rate of growth, significantly higher than the European average. Finally, the minister thanked the Secretary General for the useful policy recommendations, including the green transition.

On his part, Cormann expressed his full confidence in the success of the centre in Crete. He estimated that the Greek economy is in the right direction and focused on the important achievements recorded in the sectors mentioned by the minister. He then summarized the content of the report and underlined that, despite the significant challenges, as long as Greece continues its reform program, its prospects will be bright.