Staikouras: No touching the cash buffer

The government will not touch the country's cash buffer and will announce fresh support measures next month, Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said on Friday, adding that the economy is expected to rebound considerably in the year's second half, moderating its annual contraction for 2020 to 3-4 percent.

Speaking on Alpha TV, Staikouras explained that "there is no issue of public service cuts according to the baseline scenario we are running" and stressed: "We are not planning to lay a hand on the safety cushion, that 15.7 billion euros, based on the baseline scenario that is about the coming period. We intend to repeat in May the measures we have taken [for March and April] without making any use of the cash buffer."

He did note however that the longer the health crisis lasts, "the greater the economic problems will be. Therefore we will need to utilize more...