Front Matter Page

© 1997 International Monetary Fund

October 1997

IMF Staff Country Report No. 97/89

Greece—Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix

This selected issues and statistical appendix report on Greece was prepared by a staff team of the International Monetary Fund as background documentation for the periodic consultation with this member country. As such, the views expressed in this document are those of the staff team and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government of Greece or the Executive Board of the IMF.

International Monetary Fund

Washington, D.C.

Front Matter Page

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

GREECE

Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix

Prepared by a staff team consisting of Charalambos A. Christofides, Mark S. Lutz (both EU1) and Daniel C. Hardy (MAE)

Approved by the European I Department

July 17, 1997

Contents

• Basic Data

• Selected Issues

  • I. Introduction and Overview

  • II. Fiscal Developments and Prospects: An International Perspective

    • A. Introduction and Fiscal Developments

    • B. International Comparators

    • C. Revenues

    • D. Expenditures

    • E. Successful Fiscal Adjustments

  • III. Foreign Currency Risk Premium: Evolution and Determinants

    • A. Introduction and Summary

    • B. The Measurement and Evolution of the Spread

    • C. The Determinants of the Spread

    • D. Constructing Benchmark Spreads

  • IV The Lending-Deposit Spread and its Tax-Related Determinants

    • A. Introduction

    • B. Recent Developments in the Lending-Deposit Spread

    • C. Tax Factors Influencing the Lending-Deposit Spread

    • D. Decomposing the Lending-Deposit Spread

    • E. Results

  • V. Recent Developments in the Banking System

    • A. The Regulatory and Supervisory Framework

    • B. Financial Market Structure

    • C. Bank Balance Sheets

    • D. Bank Operations and Profitability

  • VI. Indicators of Competition and Efficiency in the Banking System

    • A. Rates of Return and Market Share

    • B. Revenue and Cost Components

• Figures

  • 1. Per Capita Income at 1995 PPP, U.S. dollars

  • 2. General Government Current Revenues

  • 3. General Government Current Expenditures

  • 4. General Government Current Primary Expenditures

  • 5. General Government Transfers

  • 6. Effective Average Tax Rates

  • 7. Evolution of the Spread and Maturity

  • 8. Macroeconomic Developments

  • 9. Actual Versus Predicted Spread and Residual

  • 10. Actual Versus Benchmark Spread

  • 11. Lending-Deposit Interest Rates

  • 12. Break-Even Lending Rate

  • 13. Lending-Deposit Spread and its Determinants

  • 14. Banking System Share Prices

  • 15. Banks’ ROE and Asset Shares

• Text Tables

  • 1. General Government Accounts, 1960-97

  • 2. General Government Accounts, 1990-95 Average

  • 3. Effective Average Tax Rates

  • 4. General Government Final Consumption Expenditures

  • 5. OECD: Total Social Expenditures

  • 6. OECD: Social Expenditure Shares

  • 7. Successful and Unsuccessful Fiscal Adjustments

  • 8. Elements of Bank Balance Sheets

  • 9. Bank Profit and Loss Statement

  • 10. Bank Branching and Staff Levels

  • 11. Nonbank Financial Institutions

  • 12. Return on Equity and Asset Shares of Greek Banks

  • 13. Income and Expenses of Greek Banks

• Statistical Appendix Tables

  • 1. Aggregate Demand (at constant prices)

  • 2. Aggregate Demand (at current prices)

  • 3. Private Sector Income Account

  • 4. Saving-Investment Balance

  • 5. Agricultural Production

  • 6. Manufacturing Production

  • 7. Price Developments

  • 8. Implicit Price Deflators

  • 9. Cost-Push Indicators of Inflation

  • 10. Labor Force, Employment, and Unemployment

  • 11. Employment in Selected Sectors

  • 12. Wages and Salaries in the Nonagricultural Sector

  • 13. Employment, Productivity, and Unit Labor Costs in Manufacturing

  • 14. Collective Labor Agreements, Compulsory Arbitration, and Impact of Labor Disputes

  • 15. Summary of Central Government Finances

  • 16. Ordinary Budget Revenue (in billions of drachmas)

  • 17. Ordinary Budget Revenue (in percent of GDP)

  • 18. Ordinary Budget Expenditures

  • 19. Investment Budget Expenditure by Sector

  • 20. Budget Transfers from and to the European Union

  • 21. Central Government Expenditure, Functional Classification

  • 22. Summary of General Government Finances (in billions of drachmas)

  • 23. Summary of General Government Finances (in percent of GDP)

  • 24. Public Entities Balance

  • 25. Public Enterprise Balance

  • 26. Operating Balance of Selected Public Enterprises

  • 27. Financing of the PSBR

  • 28. Gross General Government Debt

  • 29. Monetary Program and Outturn

  • 30. Changes in Minimum Reserve Requirements and Investment Ratios For Commercial Banks

  • 31. Monetary Survey

  • 32. Growth of Money and Credit Aggregates

  • 33. Issues of Securities through the Athens Stock Exchange

  • 34. Distribution of Bank Credit to the Private Sector

  • 35. Short-Term Interest Rates

  • 36. Official Interest Rates

  • 37. Bank Interest Rates

  • 38. Interest Rates on Government Paper

  • 39. Foreign Exchange Government Bond Yields

  • 40. Exchange Rates

  • 41. Official Reserves

  • 42. Balance of Payments

  • 43. External Services and Transfers

  • 44. External Current Account Deficit and Financing

  • 45. Current Account of the Balance of Payments

  • 46. Selected Indicators for Trading Partners

  • 47. Capital Account

  • 48. General Government External Debt

  • 49. External Debt Service

• References

• List of Recent Fund Studies