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Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-02-26
CONTENTS
[01] BoG governor on banks
[01] BoG governor on banks
Bank of Greeceās governor George Provopoulos on Thursday predicted that
there will not be a second package of financial support to Greek banks.
Speaking in Parliament, during a testimony over the central bankās
monetary policy report, Provopoulos said: ?According to what we know at
this moment, there is no need for a second package?.
Commenting on Greek banksā investments in Southeastern Europe, the
central banker said it would a ?criminal mistake? for Greece to say it
did not care about them and stressed that Greek banks have other ways
of financing their investments abroad.
Provopoulos said banks could use savings from one country and to
transfer them to another country. ?No one can prohibit such an action,?
he said, while he added that the European Central Bank and the
Eurosystem was filling in for a liquidity gap created by a freezing of
international capital markets.
The central banker underlined that the country simply cannot sacrifice
what it has invested over the last few years in the region, because of
the current difficult situation. ?We will live with these hardships, we
will survive. But we must be prudent and to reap the rewards at the
end.? Provopoulos said that Greek investments in the region was more
than just a financial presence.
He stressed the consequences from a mistake to characterize Greek
banksā provisions as toxic. ?Debt provisions will grow in a worsening
environment. When an economic growth slows from 4.0 pct to 0.5 pct, if
not worse, this obviously means a violent worsening of conditions and
of course a larger number of bad debts will surface. This is expected.
But not be haste of talking about toxic because we harm Greek banks as
well,? Provopoulos said, adding that ?Greek banks have an adequate,
strong capital position, capable of absorbing shocks?.
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