“Today, the Greek banking system is clearly in better position than it was four years ago, so that to absorb any shocks from the international markets” stressed the Minister of Finance, Christos Staikouras, from the floor of the Parliament, on the occasion of the turmoil experienced by the global financial system which, as he said, was mainly triggered by the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse’s plummeting share price.

Speaking in the context of a debate on a bill regarding the creation of an OECD population center in Crete, Mr. Staikouras explained that:

  • 1st: The banks have cleaned up their balance sheets using the “Hercules” program, whose guarantees do not go into the public debt – as various political parties have confidently argued here in Parliament – and have single-digit non-performing loan ratios. He even noted that in July 2019 the red loans in the banks’ portfolio were around 44%. “We received them at 44%, as we delivered them in January 2015. Today it is at 8.7%, (December 2022).”
  • 2nd: Banks have significantly strengthened their liquidity through two pillars, deposit growth and market access. “To be specific: Deposits in the last four years have increased by 30% or 50 billion euros. And access to international markets has been strengthened with issues of securities and capital instruments amounting to approximately twelve and a half billion euros.
  • 3rd: Banks maintain capital adequacy ratios well above the minimum requirement. This limit is low, compared to what Greek banks have, which is 17.5% in December ’22, and
  • 4th: Banks have returned to profitability after a series of loss-making years.

As Mr. Staikouras underlined, “all these are positive elements, which prove that the banking system today is in a much better position since four years ago.”

Nevertheless, the finance minister noted, “there is no room for complacency. Uncertainties worldwide are many and the challenges, new and great. The government, in cooperation with the competent supervisory authorities, is monitoring the developments and will continue to ensure the necessary financial stability”.

Therefore, continued Mr. Staikouras, “as evidenced by the citation of the data I have made indicatively, for the course of the Greek economy and also of the financial system, we have won as Greece, all together collectively, many battles.

And we can also win the battle of modernizing the state with calmness, with determination and with creative action. We can get a better state with more accountability, more efficiency, and more transparency. But this requires responsibility. Individual and collective responsibility from all of us”.