“Post-MoU Greece: Five proposals” Speech by Professor John (Iannis) Mourmouras Bank of Greece Deputy Governor Former Deputy Finance Minister at the 2nd International Conference organised by the Economic Chamber of Greece at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center Athens, 31 May 2018 Your Excellency, Mr. President of the Hellenic Republic, Ladies and Gentlemen, Introduction After 8 years of hardship and thanks, on the one hand, to the big sacrifices of the Greek people and, on the other hand, to the solidarity of our European partners as this is manifested by the unprecedented amount of loans given to our country on truly concessional terms (very low rates and long maturities), Greece is finally coming out of the tunnel with optimism.
Although the international economic environment and indeed the situation in our neighbourhood is pretty unstable right now, I believe the Greek case is manageable for an exit from the MoUs in late August without a precautionary credit line – which would be effectively a mini-fourth MoU. Such an exit, after all, would be similar to the cases of Portugal, Ireland and Cyprus.