Baseline

Rating agencies and international analysts are eager to see post-election Greece continue on its current fiscal path and reform policy.

Greek tourism authorities and businesses are expressing reserved optimism regarding the sector's course in 2023.

This optimism is based both on the first indications from bookings for this season and the number of seats to Greece planned by the airline companies.

The economy will grow by 4%-4.3% this year, according to the baseline scenario of the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE), undercutting the more optimistic forecasts for a 4.8% expansion by the government, 5% by the European Commission and 5.7% by the International Monetary Fund.

The presidential decree on the closing of bays and drawing of straight baselines in the maritime area of the Ionian and the Ionian islands up to Cape Tainaro in the Peloponnese entered into force through its publication in the government gazette Sunday.

The move is a necessary step in the process of extending Greece's western territorial waters.

The crisis from the coronavirus pandemic is expected to constitute no more than a transitional shock for the Greek economy, estimates Moody's, stressing that the country's credit profile continues to be on an improvement course even though this was interrupted by the Covid-19 lockdown.

The Finance Ministry's estimates about the impact of the coronavirus on the Greek economy this year are at the optimistic end of the range of projections expressed to date and near those of the Bank of Greece, according to the Stability Program Athens submitted to the European Commission last Thursday.

Greece's economy will contract by about 5.0 percent to 9.0 percent this year under baseline and adverse scenarios, hit by lockdown measures to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, an influential think-tank forecast on Wednesday.

Fitch Ratings announced on Friday that it has affirmed Cyprus' credit rating at "BBB" but has revised its outlook to stable.
Fitch said that the revision of Cyprus' outlook reflects the impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic on the country's economy and on its sovereign fiscal position.

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.

The Bank of Greece's baseline scenario for 2020 is zero growth, compared with its previous estimate for 2.4 percent, according to a report released by Governor Yannis Stournaras on Friday.