Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis announced on Monday the renaming of the Growthfund to the National Investment Fund. It came during a speech at a Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations conference, titled “Greece at the Center of the International Investment Dialogue.”
He said the Growthfund was created during a period of crisis, when public assets were discussed in terms of fear, supervision and constraint, adding that today’s Greece is no longer the same country and that this shift should be reflected institutionally.
Pierrakakis also stressed it was time to move definitively beyond not only a difficult period, but also the language associated with it. According to the finance minister, the renaming of the organization represents a substantive change, as its role is now to transform public assets into productive capital, mobilize investment and act as a lever for long-term growth.
He also noted that the Greek economy today is clearly no longer in a crisis. Pierrakakis stressed the economy is growing at a rate of around 2%, which is significantly higher than the European average. He noted that unemployment has fallen to 8% and is close to reaching its historic low, recalling that it once exceeded 27%.
