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Victoria Mindova

With the deepening of the crisis in Greece, 45 thousand people have lost their jobs, and over 10 thousands small and medium enterprises have been closed since the beginning of 2009. As a result of economic stagnation, the cash amount of uncovered checks on the market so far has risen to €3 billion from €1.7 billion in August 2009. This data was presented by Giorgos Kasimatis, chairman of the Central Union of Greek Chamber of Commerce, in a statement for journalists.

Union representatives met with Minister of Development Louka Katseli, who discussed specific ways of financing small and medium enterprises in the country, and developing programs for state support of the local economy. Kasimatis said that one of the main sources for additional funds to support the local economy are investing €10 billion in assistance programs for small and medium businesses. The money will come from allocations at the beginning of the year by the European Central Bank money to finance the credit activity banks.

At the beginning of the year the New Democracy government said it would allocate additional funding to commercial banks amounting to €28 billion, which until now have not been fully utilized. The Union of Chambers announced that they fully support the two new bills for strengthening households and businesses, which the Ministry of Economy and Development prepared and are waiting to vote for them in parliament.

According to Giorgos Kasimatis the presented by PM Giorgos Papandreou reforms to reduce government deficits are plans in the right direction towards recovering the Greek economy. He also added: “Now what we have to see is how these new measures will be put into practice."