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2nd LD Writethru: Greek interim FinMin pledges swift steps as snap general polls set for Sept. 20

Xinhua, August 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

Greece's new interim Finance Minister Yorgos Chouliarakis on Friday pledged swift steps over the next three weeks to further restore trust in the ailing national economy.

He assumed his duties as snap general elections were formally declared for Sept. 20.

Chouliarakis took over from Euclid Tsakalotos a few hours after the swearing in ceremony of the new administration.

The main task of the transitional government, headed by the Supreme Court top judge Vassiliki Thanou, is the organizing of the national elections, which will be the second in nine months.

However, in particular Greece's Finance Ministry officials will be under pressure to continue work non-stop so that the country is ready for the first assessment of the bailout requirements by lenders later in autumn.

Under the deal former prime minister Alexis Tsipras sealed with lenders, Greece will receive further vital funding to stay afloat and in the euro zone in exchange of austerity measures and reforms.

"Our basic target is to continue the work which has started and not waste precious time," Chouliarakis said during the handover ceremony on Friday.

He added that his team will focus on efforts to strengthen the banking system. The goal is to restart the economy which has been suffering from six years of deep recession and was further hit by capital controls imposed this summer after Tsipras' decision to hold a referendum on the draft deal in July.

As opposition parties accused the former PM of exposing the economy to further severe blows with his decision to resign last week and force the elections, the Greek statistics authority ELSTAT published the latest provisional data on GDP growth in the second quarter of 2015 which included a positive surprise.

According to ELSTAT estimates, the country's GDP increased by 0.9 percent compared with the first quarter of the year and by 1.6 percent compared with the second quarter of 2014.

Despite the ray of hope, ELSTAT experts and financial analysts in Athens warned that following the introduction of capital controls on June 29 and the renewed uncertainty over the forthcoming polls, the figures will be negative at the end of the year.

Regardless of the outcome of the elections, the new government will be under enormous pressure to meet commitments and timetables in return of more aid, media commentators noted. Endit