Greek Economy Contracts 15.2 Pct in Q2

Greece's economy contracted by 15.2 percent in the second quarter year-on-year, official statistics showed Thursday, with data measured just before coronavirus restrictions were lifted for the tourism season.

The state statistics agency said the drop "reflects the impact on GDP of the Covid-19 pandemic and the restriction measures that were put into place."

Measured on a quarter-by-quarter basis, the contraction was 14 percent, the agency said.

The data was collected between April and June -- before Greece officially launched a coronavirus-shortened tourism season on July 1.

In comparison, the economy had contracted by 7.1 percent in 2011, the biggest annual loss of output during the decade-long Greek debt crisis.

The Bank of Greece forecasts the economy in 2020 will contract by 5.8 percent of output.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has warned that it will fall into a "deep recession" this year before rebounding in 2021.

But a recent IMF forecast indicated the virus will see the country's GDP take a 10-percent hit this year before a 5.5 percent recovery in 2021.

The government has earmarked 24 billion euros ($28.4 billion) in national and EU funds to support the economy this year due to the shutdown.

The country's cash reserves stand at nearly 35 million euros according to the finance ministry.

Athens raised another 2.5 billion euros on Wednesday after reopening a 10-year bond originally made available in June.

Greece's economy contracted in the first quarter by 0.9 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Between 2009 and 2018, Greece suffered its worst economic crisis in modern times, and had begun to slowly regain some of the lost ground before it was hit by the impact of coronavirus restrictions.

The government has ruled out a general lockdown after gradually reopening the economy in May and starting to accept foreign arrivals in June to salvage part of the tourism season which is vital to the economy.

But travel demand has not lived up to expectations.

The Greek tourism confederation (SETE) last month said the country's economy could only hope for up to 3.5 billion euros in travel revenue this year.

Operators had hoped for up to five billion euros in revenue.

In 2019, the country had earned over 18 billion euros from tourism according to the Bank of Greece.