Greece Outlook Rated Positive

Moody’s changed Greece’s outlook to positive from stable and said that it sees tentative signs of the economy stabilizing.

The eurozone government had given Greece another 11th-hour credit lifeline worth €8.5 billion ($9.51 billion), last week, Reuters reported.

The International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said that the IMF would also join the bailout, offering Athens a standby arrangement of less than $2 billion.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said earlier this week that he expects government bonds yields to continue to fall, helping the country’s plans to return to bond markets.

The rating agency also added that it expects to see growth in the Greek economy this year and next and expects the public debt ratio to stabilize this year at 179% of GDP.

Moody’s also raised the long-term country ceilings for foreign-currency and local-currency bonds to B3 from Caa2.

Meanwhile, Greece’s economy will show a strong recovery in 2017, reaching growth rates as high as 2% of GDP for the first time since the crisis started, Greek Economy and Development Minister Dimitri Papadimitriou said on Friday while on an official visit to the United States, tornosnews reported.

A ministry announcement said that Papadimitriou took part in the 6th Greek Investment Forum organized in New York by the Athens stock exchange, the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise Greece.

The minister had a series of meetings with investment funds and was also able to address a wide spectrum of US firms and investors, presenting the latest developments for the Greek economy and its prospects following a successful conclusion of the second review of Greece’s program, which he said would unlock additional funds for Greece’s borrowing needs.

Papadimitriou also pointed to the marked improvement in a series of economic indicators, such as foreign trade, industrial production, lower unemployment and attracting foreign investments, as well as a raft of reforms carried out in the country.

The investment opportunities in Greece were then outlined in detail by the head of Enterprise Greece Ilias Athanasiou. He pointed out a series of new laws passed in recent years to facilitate business, as well as major investments in the country, and the sectors showing the greatest promise, such as tourism, real estate, energy, foods and others.

Organizers reported that the 2017 Greek Investment Forum was the best yet, having greatly exceeded expectations for the number of participants and business meetings.