While much of their meeting in Washington centered on Turkey and foreign policy, US President Donald Trump lauded Greece’s slow recovery from a near-decade-long economic crisis, speaking to visiting Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Trump praised “the comeback” Greece is making, 17 months after the end of 326 billion euros ($362.79 billion) in three international bailouts and as Mitsotakis is chasing foreign investors, with Greece unable to yet make a full return to the markets.
Greece’s economy will be scrutinized for years by envoys from the Troika of the European Union-European Central Bank-European Stability Mechanism (EU-ECB-ESM) and automatic spending cuts will be triggered if fiscal targets part of austerity measures aren’t met.
Mitsotakis said Greece was “following a recipe” that has worked in the United States, including lower taxes, and the Greek economy has reacted positively after the former ruling Radical Left SYRIZA, ousted in July 7, 2019 snap elections, buried Greeks with an avalanche of tax hikes, new taxes and raised the corporate rate to 29 percent, scaring off investors.
Mitsotakis said he was looking for Trump’s support in getting US companies to invest in Greece as the Greek leader is rebooting projects stymied by SYRIZA, including the 8-billion-euro ($8.9 billion) development of the abandoned Hellenikon International airport on Athens’ coast.
Read more at thenationalherald.com
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