Editorial: An explosive cocktail

The spectre of a new, multi-level crisis triggered by Russia’s war on Ukraine is upon us.

Obviously, the dramatic developments on the field of battle, aside from trashing international law, place European countries in a new situation of economic precariousness and fiscal derailment.

Greece could not have remained untouched, especially given its many particularities, which render it more vulnerable to a new recessionary path, with an extremely harmful impact on the market and on its citizens.

In that sense, the leadership of the finance ministry and of the entire government must avoid any imprudent expenditure and readjust its economic policy, which must be guided by the durability of choices and fiscal discipline.

That is necessary in order for Greece, the day after, to handle from the strongest possible position negotiations on EU Recovery Fund monies and allocations that the EU is reviewing due to recent developments and galloping inflation.

The government will immediately be confronted with a tough, necessary balancing act, between macro-economic policies and rampant talk of handouts, as the pandemic-inflation-war cocktail may prove to be extremely painful.

The cost of borrowing and the tsunami of energy price increases will hit the Greek economy hard without preparations for compensatory measures to help weather the crisis.

We must stick to our targets steadfastly, and we are doing well at that so far as, thankfully, the political will exists.