Athens

OECD chief urges banks to lend more

OECD Secretary General Angel Guirra met with MEPs on Tuesday to share his outlook for Europe’s…

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OECD Secretary General Angel Guirra met with MEPs on Tuesday to share his outlook for Europe’s economy.

The OECD sees eurozone growth of 1 percent next year, hitting 1.6 percent in 2015.

Gurria told that banks need to increase lending to homes and businesses to fire up European growth once more.

“It’s not enough that the banks don’t go bankrupt.They have to lend. The problem is that they are not lending,” he told euronews’ Efi Koutsokosta.

“Governments can help by providing some guarantees maybe, some incentives, by sharing some of the initial losses.”

The former Mexican finance minister will be in the Greek capital of Athens on Wednesday when the OECD will unveil its latest report on the country’s economy.

Mr Gurria told euronews: A country like Greece which is not yet out of the programme is vulnerable and needs support. There’s work to be done in terms of collecting taxes and privatization. There’s work to be done in the fundamental elements of competitiveness, in education, innovation issues.”

Greece’s debt pile currently stands at 175.5 percent of GDP.

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