2017, the european council repealed its 2009 decision on the existence of an excessive deficit. for 2017 it is projected that the primary balance target of 1. 75 percent of gdp will be reached with a safe margin. the current account deficit as a percentage of gdp has fallen by 15 percentage points since the beginning of the crisis, with the current account effectively being in balance over the last two years. labour cost competitiveness has been fully restored and price competitiveness is almost back at its level of 2000 and can be expected to continue to improve with the implementation of further product market reforms that raise competition in various sectors of the economy. it is worth noting that this has been achieved through the painful process of internal devaluation, that is, through outright reductions in nominal wages and salaries. at the same time, a bold programme of structural reforms has been implemented covering the pension system, the health system, labour markets, product markets, the business environment, public administration, the tax system and the budgetary framework. its implementation, alongside the privatization and real estate development programme, is on - going. finally, the banking system has been restructured and consolidated. significant recapitalization, following stringent stress tests along with in - depth asset quality reviews, now ensures that greek banks are among the best capitalized in europe. this fact, along with an npe coverage ratio of 47 percent and good collateral will play a considerable role in allowing banks to address the pressing issue of the stock of non - performing loans. in addition, significant institutional reforms have been initiated aiming at providing banks with a variety of means of reducing non - performing loans. as a result of these efforts, the economy has already started to rebalance towards tradable, export - oriented sectors. a few numbers are indicative of this trend : 2 / 9 bis central bankers'speeches first, the share of exports of goods and services in gdp increased from 19 % in 2009 to 30. 2 % in 2016 with most of this increase stemming from exports of goods. in fact, according to eurostat data, greece ’ s exports of goods have increased by 43 % since 2009 in real terms, compared to 42 % for the euro area and 47 % for germany, europe ’ s export engine. second, between 2010 and 2015, the relative price of tradables versus non - tradables rose by about 10 %. as a result, the relative size of the tradables sector, measured by gross value added, grew by approximately 12

, the stock of non - performing exposures ( including off balance sheet items ) was 3. 2 % lower than at end - december 2016. following the pattern of previous quarters, the outflow of npes coming from collections, liquidations and sales of loans was rather limited. instead, the key driver for the reduction in the stock of npes over the past quarter has been loan write - offs, especially in the business and 3 / 9 bis central bankers'speeches consumer portfolios which reached €3. 3 billion for the first half of 2017. finally, there is progress in reforms despite the recurrent delays in programme implementation. according to a recent lisbon council report ( europlus monitor, september 2017 update ), greece is still ranked first among the 28 countries of the european union on the basis of the adjustment progress indicator. this implies that greece has put the worst of the first half of 2015 slippage behind it and has started to improve again. 3. 1 growth forecasts for 2017 – 2019 overall, in 2017 the bank of greece estimates that gdp will increase by approximately 1. 7 %. for 2018 and 2019, growth is projected to accelerate to 2. 4 % and 2. 7 % respectively. consumption is expected to rebound modestly, driven by robust employment which is recovering faster than output on account of the previously implemented labour market reforms and the active labour market programmes in place. investment is projected to increase as confidence is restored and financial conditions improve. exports are projected to continue their positive trend, benefiting not only from the benign global economic outlook but also past improvements in cost competitiveness. these projections are based on the assumption that the reform and privatization programme will be implemented smoothly and according to the set timetable. 4. risks and major challenges ahead despite the positive signs that are being recorded today and the progress achieved, there are still downside risks to the outlook of the greek economy. the most significant and immediate risk is a delay in the completion of the third review of the programme. this should be avoided as it would fuel a new cycle of uncertainty that would lead to the suspension of investment plans, it would delay the repayment of government arrears and would not facilitate a normalization of financial conditions. in such a case economic recovery and the return to international financial markets will prove to be short - lived. in addition, there are significant external risks associated with the strengthening of the euro and the likelihood of economic growth slowing in the euro area. there are also significant geopol