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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-12-30
CONTENTS
[01] Mitsotakis outlines his personal ideology in ANA-MPA interview
[02] Bank credit to private sector down 2.2 pct in Nov.
[01] Mitsotakis outlines his personal ideology in ANA-MPA interview
New Democracy leadership candidate Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he was
confident he would prevail over rival candidate Vangelis Meimarakis in
the upcoming second round, while he dismissed criticism that he is a
die-hard neo-liberal who believes in the "prosperity of numbers" first.
In an interview with the ANA-MPA just 10 days before main opposition
New Democracy holds a second round of internal elections to elect its
new leader, he noted:
"I am a moderate, liberal, centre-right politician. I do not believe
that the market solves all problems. I believe in a powerful but very
small state that will regulate the market," he said. At the same time,
he noted that in a country that has become bankrupt, "one clearly has
to also look at the numbers".
"I do believe very strongly in the power of the private economy and
private enterprise to create wealth," he added.
Asked whether he would be prepared to help the present government stay
afloat if it should run into difficulties, Mitsotakis noted that New
Democracy had been forced to vote for the current programme during the
summer in order to avoid a crisis that might have forced Greece to drop
out of the euro. It was now up to the present government to carry out
the specific measures that this called for, he added.
"I want to ask you...would we now be discussing pension cuts of such an
extent if the previous [New Democracy-led] government had not fallen
or if the economy was on a growth track of 3-4 pct...The pension cuts
that Mr. Tsipras will be obliged to vote for alone are the result of
the disastrous policy that he implemented over the past year," he added.
[02] Bank credit to private sector down 2.2 pct in Nov.
Bank credit to the domestic private sector remained negative in November,
with the annual rate standing at -2.2 pct from -2.0 pct in the previous
month, the Bank of Greece said on Wednesday. The central bank, in a
monthly report, said that the monthly net flow of total credit to the
domestic private sector was negative at 458 million euros, compared
with a negative net flow of 412 million in the previous month.
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