Greek currency devalued

Press, 11 January 1983, Page 18

Greek currency devalued

iNZHA-rteuter Athens Greece's Socialist Government yesterday announced a 15.5 per cent devalution of the drachma against all currencies.

The announcement was given to newsmen in an unscheduled briefing by chief Government spokesman. Dimitrios Maroudas. No other details were immediately available.

Economy Minister Mr Gerassimos Arsenis, speaking at the same briefing, said the drachma would open at 84 per U.S. dollar today compared with 71 on Friday.

In a statement that was later due to be broadcast on television, he said "currency parity must be set at a level where it can assure the competitivity of the economy and can be supported with con-

tidence by the Central Bank." Ministers in the 14-month-old Socialist Government of Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou have said repeatedly in the last two months that there is a desperate need for Greek goods to become more competitive on world markets.

Devaluation automatically means that Greece must pay more for its imports, and Mr Arsenis said measures would be taken to control these within the next few days.

The Government would bring imports from its European Community partners down to the level at which they ran before Greece joined the Common Market in January 1981. Mr Arsenis said imports from other countries would also be controlled, and he

promised to set up new State organisations to promote exports.

"With these measure, the Government thinks that agricultural income, the volume and value of exports, industrial production and employment will all rise significantly." the minister said.

Greece has traditionallypaid for its big gaps in visible trade through shipping, tourism and remittances from emigrants, but these sources of income have been hit by the world recession.

Figures released during the week-end showed Greek exports dropped from ?U53.9 billion in the first 10 months of 1981 to $3.5 billion in the first 10 months of 1982.