G. Stournaras: Bank of Greece had warned in time about high inflation

The Bank of Greece had warned in time since June 2021 in the Monetary Policy Report about the risk of a global inflation spike, noting that there are also structural factors, such as the denationalization of production and climate change, which may lead to higher long-term inflation, said recently the governor of the BoG Giannis Stournaras speaking at the Conference of the Center for European Constitutional Law (Themistoklis and Dimitris Tsatsou Foundation).

He reiterated that it was wrong to go to the polls early in 2015, saying “it is worth considering how different the economic developments in 2014 might have been if we had not been forced into early elections next year due to the impossibility of electing a President of the Republic. in 2014 the political system had more “political space” at its disposal to complete the few remaining reforms, “in order to ‘tie’, in a way that did not allow regression, both the fiscal progress and the economic recovery that had been achieved” “My relevant public speech to the Greek Members of Parliament in November of that year” raised a lot of dust “and was considered political. But it was deeply institutional.”

Mr. Stournaras also underlined that many times during its long history the Bank of Greece became the target, in several cases, of interests that wanted to weaken its institutional role, for the benefit of policies that are contrary to the basic principles of its Statute. On the one hand, because acting as the institutional barometer of the economy, it was often in the middle of a tug-of-war of political controversy. On the other hand, because by contributing to its role in the investigation of important cases of mismanagement and corruption, it was targeted by strong financial interests.