BoG governor augurs confidence in Greek economy

Provopoulos was in London participating in in the framework of a "Bank Speaker Series" Forum organized by Goldman Sachs.

Referring to Greek banks, the central banker stressed they are among the best capitalized banks in Europe and added that a very large degree of consolidation has been achieved.

The number of banks has been reduced drastically, their costs cut significantly in the last four years and as a result we have a more compact, efficient and competitive banking system, he noted.

Provopoulos, whose term at the helm of the Bank of Greece ends in June, referred also to the significant progress made by the Greek economy towards fiscal adjustment, regaining its competitiveness, dealing with a current account deficit and promoting reforms.

The central banker said that "a return to growth - aka Grecovery - was underway".
Top executives from international investment firms and institutional portfolios, such as JP Morgan, Fidelity, Citadel, Aviva, Eton Park, etc, attended the presentation.