ATHENS — State Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis described the year 2021 as a year of recovery in an interview with "Action 24" TV late on Monday.

"Hopefully and once there is a coronavirus vaccine production line from late December, 2021 will find us in a much better position, which does not necessarily mean that the danger from the virus will have been completely eliminated," he said, "but we will definitely have entered a smoother path so that our economy can be rebuilt."

Gerapetritis underlined that "we are preparing for all scenarios, both in the health and the financial sector, so that we can rapidly deal with anything."

The fact that the country last week raised money on the international markets at the lowest interest rate, he stressed, was a sign of confidence in the systemic course of the Greek economy.

"The Greek economy showed very good momentum over the last six months of 2019 and the first two months of 2020, with a clear reconstruction plan, with a serious wave of investments, with a growth mentality, which was based on the reduction of taxes, in a much more growth-promoting mix. The image of the seriousness of the Greek state towards the economy has been restored, there is a systemic potential in the Greek economy and the markets estimate that when conditions are restored, we will enter a trajectory for much greater growth of our economy."

At the same time, he referred to the "very important fiscal weapons", from the Recovery Fund and from the European Union's multiannual financial programme, noting that this meant there was "a large guaranteed fiscal space".

In any case, he stressed, "we are moving with well-structured economic pillars, [so] 2021 will be a year of recovery for the Greek economy," which will be based not only on its traditional supports, which are services and especially tourism. "Our goal is to obtain a more even balance, to develop more sectors of the Greek economy with investments, with good new jobs, with tax breaks."