have been implemented in such areas as the pension and healthcare systems, the goods and services markets, the business environment, the tax administration system, the budgetary framework and public sector transparency. recently, two credit rating organisations, s & p in october 2019 and fitch in january 2020, upgraded the greek economy by one notch, while transparency international recently upgraded greece seven notches regarding the perception of corruption index. finally, the issuance just recently of a 15 - year bond with a coupon of 1. 875 % is clear indication of the progress made. the greek economy is currently recovering and has started to rebalance towards tradable, export - oriented sectors. according to the bank of greece estimates, the greek economy grew at a rate of 2. 2 % in 2019 while projections point to growth accelerating to 2. 5 % in 2020 and 2021, as the catching - up effect, after a long period of recession, through rises in investment and disposable income is projected to counterbalance the effect of the global and euro area slowdown. despite the progress achieved so far, the greek economy continues to face tight fiscal, monetary and financial conditions compared to all the other euro area member states as a legacy of the debt crisis, as well as a number of challenges, such as : • the high volume on non performing loans ( npl ) which restricts the ability of banks to finance new investments and to support the real economy • the large investment gap • the high long - term unemployment rate ; • the projected demographic decline ; • the slow digital transformation of the economy ; • the large underground economy ; • low structural competitiveness. i will concentrate in the npl problem which concerns directly the bank of greece and the ecb / ssm. developments in the greek financial system are positive, with improving capital adequacy ratios, profitability before provisions and liquidity. the continuous increase in bank deposits and the improvement in liquidity allowed the elimination of capital controls as from 1st september 2019, while conditions continue to improve ever since. the most serious problem for greek banks is the high volume of npls. the high npl ratio of greek banks was one of the first and most obvious consequences of the financial and economic crisis in greece. in the last three years and until september 2019, the npl volume fell significantly by about 36 billion euros from a maximum of almost 107 billion euros in march 2016,, mainly through write - offs and sales of loans. in addition, the institutional framework

on the policy agenda by other urgent considerations relating to climate change, immigration and global competition. this could weaken the euro area economy even further, if global conditions were to deteriorate. in my view, it remains a high priority to complete the banking union by creating the european deposit insurance scheme ( edis ). renewed efforts should also be made to complete the capital markets union, especially in view of brexit. more developed and integrated capital, financial and banking markets will reduce funding costs, improve the financing of the real economy by diversifying the sources of financing, and facilitate private risk - sharing through the capital and credit channels. this will also support the international role of the euro. at the same time, risk - sharing, whether in the form of a safe asset and / or a central fiscal stabilisation tool, should proceed simultaneously with risk reduction, such as the reduction of non - performing loans or national discretions in supervisory, resolution and liquidation rules for banks. it is only in this way that we can transform what today in the euro area is in effect a noncooperative zero - sum negotiation into a cooperative, win - win one. in addition, at the euro area level, it is essential to ensure that fiscal rules become simpler and more effective, but also that the macroeconomic imbalance procedure operates symmetrically, both for member states with external deficits and for member states with external surpluses. in the aftermath of the crisis, the burden of correcting external imbalances was incurred primarily by deficit member states, mainly via the income channels and internal devaluation. this has contributed to a divergence of gdp per capita among member states after 2010. finally, it is of utmost importance to strengthen the single market, in particular in services and in digital technologies, in order to boost competition, investment, innovation and technology diffusion and productivity in the eu. 2. greece : progress, challenges and prospects in the economy and the banking system significant progress has been achieved in greece since the beginning of the sovereign debt crisis in 2010. the main causes of the crisis, namely the very large “ twin ” deficits ( i. e. the general government and current account deficits ) have been eliminated, competitiveness has been restored in terms 2 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches of unit labour costs ( but less so in terms of prices and even less so in structural terms ), the banking system is adequately capitalised and liquidity conditions have improved substantially, while significant reforms