ATHENS – The Greek government will ensure that very vulnerable households will not lose their primary residence, Fotis Kourmousis, special secretary of Public Debt Management said on Wednesday.

Speaking during a teleconference on "Non-performing loans: The new reality", Kourmousis said the government is preparing a package of measures which would have been implemented already if it were not for the coronavirus pandemic. He noted that a new bankruptcy law will be ready in the summer and will ensure that very vulnerable households will not lose their primary residence. He added that the law will envisage a rent subsidy.

Theodoros Kalantonis, executive chairman of FPS, addressing the teleconference, said he expected an increase in non-perfoming loans (NPLs) by 10-15 pct to around 77-80 billion euros, from 70 billion currently, due to the impact of the pandemic. He added that a new bankruptcy code should be a tool for the restructuring of the market and not an object for exploitation. Kalantonis said house auctions was an absolutely necessary tool and said that he did not expect the solution of a bad bank in Greece, unless it was in the framework of a pan-European initiative.

George Georgakopoulos, CEO in Intrum Hellas, said that the day after the pandemic crisis made it imperative to deal with new wave of NPLs cautiously. Panos Palaeologos, founder and chairman of HotelBrain, said that moving capital loss because of the crisis would be replenished in one year and expressed his confidence that tourism will become the engine to lead the economy out of the crisis.

Yiannis Hatzitheodosiou, president of the Athens Chamber of Tradesmen, said that a 30 pct of restaurant businesses in Greece will not open this year.