However, in the early part of 2006, productivity growth slowed markedly, and it has increased at less than a 1 percent rate over the past four quarters. The recent deceleration raises the possibility that the trend has slowed significantly. If the trend has slowed, that could have important implications for the conduct of monetary policy.
A number of important reforms have been implemented in this regard, aiming to provide banks with an array of tools to tackle this challenge, including a strengthening of the supervisory framework by setting operational targets for NPL reduction, the creation of a secondary NPL market and the removal of various legal, judicial and administrative barriers to the management of NPLs (see Bank of Greece, 2018).