Greece to boost its 2021 growth estimate: PM

Greece will revise its 2021 economic growth estimate to 5.9 per cent from 3.6 percent earlier, after an unexpectedly positive second quarter, the prime minister said Saturday.

Seasonally adjusted Greek data earlier in the week showed the economy growing 3.4 per cent between the first and second quarters of 2021, and a better-than-expected 16.2 per cent year-on-year rate, despite partial lockdowns.

"I am able to announce a revised growth target of 5.9 percent," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a keynote speech at the Thessaloniki International Fair.

Halfway through his four-year term, Mitsotakis is seeking to repair the political damage from summer wildfires and opposition to his government's management of the Covid-19 pandemic.