Rebound is set to take longer

The volume of new expired debts and suspended tax and social security obligations constitute signs of the major problems that the real economy is up against. After the immunization of the population, the Greek economy will not revert to normal as it was before the pandemic, but to a new normality with enterprises scarred by the effects of the health crisis and sky-high unemployment.

The data from the Parliamentary Budget Office show that new expired dues created over the year's second quarter amounted to 2.1 billion euros, while the suspended dues of Q2 that will be unfrozen next year come to €1.567 billion, to say nothing of November's and December's suspended obligations.

The first signs of enterprises' and individual borrowers' fatigue were apparent from the reopening of the market after the spring lockdown: Those outside the domains that had their dues suspended...