OECD toolkit reforms add billions

Greece's economy has benefited by 5.66 billion euros from adopting 161 market reforms recommended by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, out of a total of 775 in the OECD's "toolkit," according to provisional calculations by the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV).

In fact the benefit from the reforms - which triggered major infighting within the New Democracy-PASOK coalition in 2013-14 - is even greater according to the OECD and SEV, as in the medium and long term, lifting regulatory obstacles to competition usually tends to have multiplying effects.

Despite complaints by traders - who were generally hit harder during the financial crisis than the big chains and retailers - allowing stores to open on more Sundays has added 2.5 billion euros to the economy, according to the OECD. This was just one of the 708 recommendations fully...