Crowds

A patient being sent to the Shefqet Ndroqi Hospital for Lung Diseases in Tirana on Sunday. Photo: Malton Dibra/LSA

Prime Minister Edi Rama said that anyone who complains about the heavy fines should understand that the penalties are "not [meant] to collect money for the state, but to protect the people from violations that threaten their health in this war situation".

During the decade that just ended, Greece managed to deal with twin deficits that plunged the country into crisis and austerity. The country also managed to tame its public debt as, despite the fact that this grew both in size and as a percentage of gross domestic product, it is now considered to be sustainable thanks to the reduction of debt-servicing costs and the creation of a cash buffer.

Roughly half the nation's business economists say they think the U.S. economy will slip into recession by the end of next year, and three-fourths envision such a downturn beginning by the end of 2021.

In previous Notes for Discussion, we presented an aspirational annual target for growth in labor productivity. Greece should aim to improve annual growth in labor productivity to 1.5 percent a year, from an average of 0.4 percent a year over the last two decades.

The house price index increased by 11.3 percent in October from a year earlier, data from the Central Bank showed on Dec. 18.

As next year looks set to bring multiple challenges in global markets, it is important for Greece to convince international investors that the fiscal risk has diminished and to normalize its credit system, UBS Wealth Management Global Chief Economist Paul Donovan tells Kathimerini.

The consumer price index has seen a 21.62-percent annual hike in November, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) said.

For every 4 euros of austerity measures (taxes, social security contributions, pension and benefit cuts) this government has taken since it was voted into power, it has only returned 1 euro, and only to a small section of the population at that.

Greece's annual EU-harmonised inflation rate accelerated in October, statistics service ELSTAT data showed on Friday.

The reading was 1.8 percent from 1.1 percent in September.

The data showed the headline consumer price index rose to 1.8 percent year-on-year, also picking up from 1.1 percent in the previous month.

In previous Notes for Discussion, we addressed a possible path for real GDP, the deflator as a measure of prices and inflation, and the path for nominal GDP.