The Secretariat for Crisis Management Communication of the Ministry for Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media has pubished the second issue of its Newsletter on the situation of refugees and migrants in Greece. The Newsletter, which was first published in May, aims at informing public opinion and journalists on all apects of refugee / migration managment.

In the current issue, deputy minister for Migration Policy Ioannis Balafas briefly describes the National Strategy for Reception and Integration now being implemented. This strategy aims to create a "Greek model for intergration" which is based on dialogue and social participation and where Local Government plays a key role as the executive mechanism of integration initiatives. The vision of the National Strategy is reflected in the HELIOS pilot project, which provides services such as language courses, psychosocial support and vocational guidance. Balafas also taks about another project to be implemented during the second half of 2018, involving the registration of the educational and occupational profile of the entire refugee population residing in Greece since 2015, with the objective of more effectively intergrating this population into work and education.

Read the newsletter.

The Newsletter provides, inter alia, facts and figures on:

• The Refugee-Migration flows in the first four months of 2018: According to the National Coordination Center for Border Control, Immigration and Asylum (N.C.C.B.C.I.A)  8,522 persons entered Greece illegally through the Greek-Turkish seaborders in the first four months of 2018, compared to5,307 in the corresponding period of 2017. Irregular inflows through Greek-Turkish land borders amounted to 5,802 in the first four months of 2018, compared to 667 in the corresponding period of 2017, with a significant decline in May.
• The accommodation of 21.002 people within the framework of ESTIA program and the financial assistance to 44.753 eligible refugees by the end of April 2018.
• The examination of first and second instance asylum applications on the Aegean islands and in the mainland: On the Aegean islands, in total, 9,469 applications were submitted in the first four months of 2018 , while for the corresponding period in 2017 they amounted to 6,637, and in total, 2.588 decisions in substance (positive) were issued, against 1.433  for the corresponding period last year.
• The unaccompanied minors: A call for tenders by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund for the creation of 2,000 permanent accommodation places for unaccompanied minors is currently in progress. The unaccompanied minors will be included in the National Register of Minors at the National Centre for Social Solidarity (ΕΚΚΑ), while through legislative arrangements the procedure for assigning unaccompanied minors to the care of foster parents will be defined.
• The important changes in the recent Migration Policy Ministry’s law: The law introduces provisions, inter alia, through which deadlines for completion of the examination of asylum applications on the islands at first instance are reduced to 30 days (from 90) and, at second instance to 40 days (from 60). Furthermore, favorable arrangements for vulnerable categories of refugees and migrants are being established.
• The participation of refugee children in education: In total, 7.316 children participated in Reception Structures for Refugee Children Education (RSRCE) and Reception Classes (RC) in the first four months of 2018 and a pilot program to recognize the academic qualifications of the refugees has been launched.
• The initiatives for the integration in the labor market and the security of legal employment conditions for beneficiaries of international protection and asylum seekers: With the contribution of Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Social Solidarity the refugees have registration access to the Hellenic Manpower Employment Organization’s Registry of Unemployed and receive a Social Security Number (SSN).
• The protection of health: The medical, psychological and social support measures for asylum seekers such as the provision of health services within the framework of PHILOS programme in the five Reception and Identification Centers (RIC) on the five islands are recorded.
• The funding projects in the Aegean islands: The North Aegean Region was funded by a total of € 35 million from the national PublicInvestment Programme over the last three years, compared to just € 3 million funding received in 2014.Apart from that, the original budget of the North and South Aegean Sea Special Development Programmes has more than doubled to € 102 million. Additional initiatives totaling €77 million are funded by other programmes run by the Ministry of Economy.

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The Greek government has launched a special newsletter aimed at keeping citizens and media properly informed on all issues related to the refugee and migrant situation in the country. The newsletter will be issued periodically; this first edition (May 2018) presents the latest* data and statistics provided by the competent Greek authorities and international organizations, with a special focus on the actions developed in the sensitive sector of Health. According to Foteini Pantiora, head of the Special Secretariat for Crisis Management Communication, "our aim is to activate and maintain open communication channels on the issue and to give Greek and international media the big picture of what is going on."

In his introductory message, minister for Migration Policy Dimitris Vitsas, stresses that "one of our central priorities for the immediate future is the implementation of major infrastructure projects in the islands, in cooperation with the local government. [...] The Ministry for Migration Policy will continue to defend strongly the values of humanity and solidarity, while supporting asylum seekers as well as local communities that have made significant efforts at this time to manage the situation."

Read the newsletter.

*updated data until 28 February 2018

 Read more on the refugee/migrant situation in Greece:

• Teaching refugees in Greece how to code
• Greek Asylum Service in 2017: A year in review
• Refugees in Greece: Integration efforts, remaining challenges
• University of the Aegean: Observatory of the Refugee and Migration Crisis

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The General Secretariat for Media and Communication has published a fact sheet that compiles figures and up to date information οn economic developments in Greece, providing an conscise and informative economic review of the year 2017 - including updates until March 2018.

Download the fact sheet in pdf format

Greece has returned to growth in the course of 2017, signaling a turning point for its economy. With a fiscal over-performance over the period 2015-2017 and a gradual restoration of investor and market confidence, signs of economic recovery are observed in an accelerating growth rate, a remarkable increase in exports of goods and services and in the return of Foreign Direct Investments to pre-crisis levels. At the same time unemployment has dropped, demonstrating a downward trend. The third economic adjustment programme is progressing smoothly towards its conclusion on 20 August 2018, paving the way for the technical work concerning the related growth-adjustment mechanism which is linked to debt relief measures.

With a view to the final decision expected in June, the post-programme framework that will define relations with Greece’s partners is also being prepared. A long-term growth strategy is being elaborated by the Greek government, taking Greece's economic profile into account and highlighting the country’s competitive advantages.  The strategy will continue the necessary structural reforms to make the country more competitive and less bureaucratic, while at the same time promoting fair growth for all.

Public Finance on the right track

State Budget Execution for January - December 2017

• Surplus of 1,941 million Euros in the State Budget Primary Balance, against the primary surplus target of 877 million Euros.

• Ordinary Budget net revenues amounted to 48,973 million Euros, 259 million Euros or 0.5%, higher than the target.

• State Budget expenditures up to 55,690 million Euros, 1,575 million Euros lower than the target (57,265 million Euros).

• Decrease in the Ordinary Budget expenditures by 943 million Euros compared to the respective period of 2016.

• The General Government primary surplus targets of 2017 and 2018 agreed at 1.75% and 3.5% of GDP, are about to be achieved, building on the previous year’s primary surplus overshooting by 3.3% of GDP against target.

Confidence gradually restored

Access to international capital markets

• Successful attempt to access international capital markets in July 2017, for the first time since 2014, with the issuing of a syndicated 5-year state bond of 3 billion euros at a 4.62% interest rate (against 4.95% in 2014).

• Successful issuance in February 2018 of a 7-year state bond of 3 billion euros at a 3.5% interest rate, in the framework of a planned series of market access exercises under the ESM programme.

Economic outlook upgrades by credit rating agencies

• A series of economic outlook upgrades within 2017 by credit rating agencies Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, Fitch and DBRS from stable to positive.

• Greece’s sovereign credit rating was upgraded by Standard & Poor’s from B- to B, in January 2018.

• Greece’s issuer rating was upgraded by Moody΄s to B3 from Caa2, in February 2018.

Economic Sentiment – Consumer Confidence

• Steady improvement of the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) and the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) within 2017. On average, the ESI rose to 96.6 bps (base points) in 2017 from 91.6 bps in 2016 hitting 104.3 bps in February 2018. The PMI on average went over 50 bps, reflecting expansion in manufacturing.

• Consumer confidence improved by 18.5 bps at the end of 2017 versus the end of the previous semester.

Signs of economic recovery

GDP growth

Greece returned to growth, in 2017, signaling a turning point for its economy. GDP growth reached 1.4% for the whole year according to first estimates (the biggest increase since 2007), while for 2018 GDP growth is estimated at 2.3%.

Exports of goods and services

Exports of goods and services during 2017 amounted to 59,758 billion euros in comparison with 55,970 billion euros for the corresponding period of the year 2016, recording an increase of 6.8%.

Public Investment Programme

The Public Investment Programme showed a yearly increase of 209% in January 2018 and 27% in February 2018, in comparison to -80% and -34% respectively in 2017.

Tourism

In 2017, the balance of travel services showed a surplus of €12,680 million, up 13.2% from a surplus of €11,201 million in 2016. Net receipts from travel services offset 69.1% of the goods deficit and accounted for 72.9% of total net receipts from services. Travel receipts rose in 2017 to €14,596 million a 10.5% rise compared with the previous year.

Foreign Direct Investments (FDI)

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2017 came to a total of €3.59 billion euros (2% of Greek GDP), increasing by 29.4% in comparison to 2016. FDI inflows to Greece have returned to pre-crisis levels both in quantity and quality as an increase in industrial sector’s contribution has also been remarked (from -9% in 2014 to 8% in 2017).

EU funding absorption

Greece achieved the highest EU funding absorption in the EU having used 25% of the funding available from the new European structural and investment funds for 2014-2020. Greece also ranked first in 2016 with a record absorption of 11.3 % in that year, placed in the top of available EU funding absorption for the third consecutive year.

Agreements with the European Investment Bank (EIB)

EIB financing in Greece came to a total of EUR 2.1 billion in 2017.
The total investment of the EIB Group (the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund) in Greece in 2017 was EUR 2.49 billion.

European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) – (Juncker Plan)

Total financing under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) in Greece amounts to €2.1 billion and is set to trigger €8.1 billion in additional investments (as of February 2018).

Greece’s economy reorientation

Consumption expenditure

Final consumption expenditure (in public and private sector) decreased by 0.2% in 2017 while gross capital formation representing productive investment increased by 9.6% (against 5% target), showing the biggest increase over the past decade.

Industrial production

Industrial production stayed on an upward climb for the third consecutive year, at an accelerated pace (+4.4% in the January-November period versus +2.5% respectively in 2016).

Agri-food sector

Agri-food sector is a key sector for Greek economy showing an increase of 15.3% in exports in the period 2014-2017 representing the 17.5% of total exports.

Extroversion

The exports of goods and services to GDP ratio has increased to 31.9% in 2017. The ratio of goods exports to the total exports (goods and services) increased in 2017 from 50.1% to 55.1% marking the shift from a production model based on services to a model  based on goods mainly industrial.

Labor market developments

• Reduction in unemployment rate reaching 20.2% in the 3rd trimester 2017, the lowest since 2013 when unemployment rate reached 27.9%.

• Reduction in youth unemployment rate reaching 42.9% in 2017, the lowest rate of the last 7 years.

• Creation of 320,000 net jobs in the period 2015-2017, the highest employment growth over the past 10 years.

• Salaried employment returned to positive numbers in February, as recruitments outnumbered retirements by 16,628 jobs according to the ERGANI Information System.

Adjustment Progress

According to the 2017 Euro Plus Monitor issued by the Brussels-based think-tank Lisbon Council, Greece ranks first in Adjustment Progress Indicator, an index showing the progress that countries have made in fiscal adjustment, taking into account hard economic data but also structural reforms.

More specifically, Greece ranks:

• first in fiscal adjustment (the  size and quality of any change in the fiscal deficit, adjusted for interest payments as well as cyclical and one-off factors),

• first in structural reforms,

• second in the criteria of labour cost adjustment (changes in unit labour costs relative to the eurozone average),

• fourth in the external adjustment (the rise/or fall in exports relative to imports in the external accounts).

*Τhe Fact Sheet was compiled by Strategic and Communications Planning Unit of General Secretariat for Media and Communication, Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media.

Sources available online:

•  “State Budget Execution for January - December of 2017” - Ministry of Finance

• “Bulletin of Economic Developments, Jan-Feb 2018” (in Greek only) - Ministry of Economy and Development

• “Bulletin of Economic Developments, Nov-Dec 2017” (in Greek only) - Ministry of Economy and Development

• “Quarterly National Accounts, 5.3.2018” - Hellenic Statistical Authority

• “Developments in the balance of travel services: December 2017, 21.02.2018” - Bank of Greece

• Foreign Direct Investments January – November 2017 - EnterpriseGreece, Invest and Trade

• Business and Consumer Survey, February 2018 -IOBE - Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research

• Investment Plan for Europe: Greece, February 2018 - European Commission

Read more via Greek News Agenda:

• Greece's post-memorandum era: developmental and social goals

• Christos Staikos on the rise of investment interest in Greece

• Greece ready for a "clean" exit from memoranda

• The Greek Economy: Recent Economic Developments

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A presentation of facts, figures and up to date information about Greece’s strategic growth plan, within the framework of the Partnership Agreement for the Development Framework (PA) 2014-2020, supported by the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) of the European Union.

Actions for you, projects for everyone! The PA is called upon to help attain the national targets within the Europe 2020 Strategy and, through its implementation, it seeks to tackle the structural weaknesses in Greece that contributed to the economic crisis, as well as other economic and social problems caused by it.

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Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in his greeting speech on Thursday at an conference on "Public Administration, Democratic Governance and Social Solidarity" held for the 30-year anniversary of the operation of the National Center of Public Administration, stated that the event coincides with the launch of a major reform undertaken by the government with the view to meeting a commitment which the citizens and the public administration officers have heard so many times but unfortunately has never come into effect.

The Greek government’s new bill that will be tabled in the Hellenic Parliament in the coming days focuses on modernizing and freeing the Greek administration from political parties’ influence and interdependencies. According to PM Tsipras, who has set out today the bill’s main points at an event held for the 30-year anniversary of the National Center for Public Administration, this initiative will radically change the structure and the way the Greek public sector works, fighting clientelism, corruption and nepotism.

The bill’s key innovations are:

• Setting up a National Registry of highly qualified personnel to staff all high rank posts.
• Putting forward a new assessment system, guaranteeing twofold evaluation (for the first time all high ranking civil servants will also be assessed by their employees).
• Setting up a new selection system of high ranking civil servants based on meritocracy and transparency.
• Drafting new ministries’ organizational charts. For the first time, civil servants will staff the posts of Secretary General, for a full 5-year term, ensuring the Greek administration’s effective depoliticizing and its undisturbed continuity.
• Upgrading the National Center for Public Administration that will assume a monitoring role over the Greek administration.
• Promoting the use of new technologies.
• Accelerating some already foreseen and agreed recruitment of personnel in the understaffed sectors of education and health. These recruitments have been originally scheduled to take place within the next 5 years, some of which though are urgently needed.

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