Clear answers that relate both to its dangers banking system of our country and much more with the private debt regulation procedures gave the Minister of Finance Mr. Christos Staikourasduring his speech at the Star forum taking place in Lamia.

“There is now global recognition that the Greek banking system, the Greek financial system is in a much better position than it was in 2019” noted Mr. Staikouras to continue saying that “this is due to the fact that the volume of bad loans has significantly decreased in the banks’ portfolios”.

He hastened to clarify that “to be honest, the private debt has not decreased but has been transferred to the management companies and at the same time citizens’ deposits have increased by 50 billion euros in the last three years, as a result the capital adequacy ratio of the banking system in our country to be over 17%, the banks are profitable and of course the Greek banking system is in a much better position than in the past and can withstand any external turmoil if there is any” he characteristically underlined describing the financial data recorded in this phase.

At the same time, the Special Secretary for Private Debt Management, Mrs. Theoni Alambasis, determined that “the private debt at this stage, according to the latest data from the Bank of Greece, is 247 billion euros divided between the management companies, the claims of the banks and the Greek public”.

According to the data publicly provided by Mr. Staikouras “currently, the citizens who owe the tax office are 400,000 less than in 2018” and as he revealed “about 400,000 were able and paid their debts in the last 4 years” and at the same time he underlined as an encouraging element that “by 2022, 84% of Greek society consistently paid all tax obligations” and even characterized it as a record year.

Speaking about the existing private debt, the Minister of Finance argued that the moves made in previous years could not deal with the situation and indeed as he underlined “a large part of society was trapped in the Katseli law and today, many citizens, with a distance of a decade from then, after he has lost the cases – these are about 40,000 – they are more than twice as indebted and thus constitute a trapped part of Greek society in delays for so many years”.

Mr. Staikouras also estimated that through the out-of-court settlement that is currently underway, approximately 150 citizens a week proceed with arrangements, he spoke about overall arrangements whether they concern banks, whether they concern funds, or whether they concern the Greek government and as he said “with this this way the problem is not recycled”.

He even revealed conversations he had with the banking system and the intermediate managers, whom he now publicly asked “to re-evaluate the arrangements that the citizens have reached” as he said “they are not in the same situation as they were two or three years ago and many citizens find it difficult to comply with the regulations.”

He even underlined that “it is the responsibility of the loan managers to bend over the problem and provide solutions”.

He even asked for more involvement of the banking system as he underlined “citizens do not know where to turn, while on the contrary they have learned to turn to the banks” and at the same time he made special reference to the increase in interest rates due to European policies.

He revealed that there was a meeting last week with the representatives of the banks to “find some solution” as he estimated that “according to the data from the European bank, interest rates will be kept at a relatively high level for a longer period of time” as he said while letting it is understood that the specific problem remains and is expanding.

He, however, clarified that there is no possibility of any help for all these citizens to pay these debts as, as he argued, “the European Union does not allow it” and hastened to clarify that “if something like this happens, all these loans will be registered as bad loans to the banks with the consequence that we cannot proceed with such a measure”.

He revealed, however, that “there was an agreement with the banks so that 50% of the increase in interest rates for vulnerable households registered on the General Secretariat’s platform will be covered by the banks”.

He added that “the relevant applications are 38,000 and of these approximately 28,000 have progressed to a next stage, however only 3,000 have been found”. In fact, he clarified that “25,000 borrowers have not submitted an application as they cannot be found, nor do they have an e-mail, so the banking system is looking for them to proceed in this direction”.

Mr. Staikouras himself added that “greater effort is also needed from society to utilize the tools we find and implement to help society”.