ATHENS – The Bank of Greece sees an increase in GDP by 6 pct for this year, while the growth rate is expected to decline in 2023 to 2.8 pct, the governor of the central bank, Yannis Stournaras, said on Monday speaking at the Economist conference.

Stournaras explained that the Greek economy had performed better compared to the European Union mainly as a result of the increased receipts from tourism, as well as the inflows from the Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF) and the phenomenon of “suppressed demand”.

However, he warned, that the developments do not permit complacency, even though those on the GDP front significantly improve the overall picture of Greece’s public debt, as this decreases as a percentage of GDP. But the combination of rising interest rates and rising energy prices will likely drive the eurozone economy in 2023 closer to the adverse scenario than the so-called base scenario. In any case, however, the Greek economy is predicted to remain in a better position thanks to the increased inflows from the RRF, but also to its lower energy dependence.