NEW YORK — The Greek economy's growth rate reached 16.2% in the second quarter of 2021 and a forecast of 5.9% for the entire year may not be high enough, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an interview to Bloomberg from New York, where he is attending the 76th UN General Assembly meeting.

Mitsotakis said that foreign investment interest remained high also.

In the interview, the Greek leader he touched on several issues, including the climate crisis, energy cost, and relations with Turkey. He spoke of Greece's plans to manage the climate crisis, which had hit the Mediterranean basin hard, with the aid of EU Recovery Funds and foresaw that electricity bills would not rise very high in the next 3 to 6 months, while efforts were being made at Greek and EU level to absorb the repercussions of a global rise in cost. The government will support households and has asked power companies to absorb some of the cost, while it has also proposed that the European Union assume a Europe-wide solution.

In terms of Turkey, he said relations were improved this year, but there were complicated legal issues related to the marine zone delimitations. Similar issues with Italy and Egypt had been resolved through agreements with each country, he said, but in Turkey's case the only resolution would come through International Law.

Collaboration with Turkey is also necessary, the Greek premier said, on the migration issue, to control migration flows and fight the human trafficking in the Aegean Sea successfully.

Mitsotakis noted that in 2021 Greece had a very good tourist season, with better than expected results, something which was aided by an EU vaccination certificate facilitating travel between countries. He also foresaw that 2022 would be a very good year for Greek tourism.