Samaras Names Hardouvelis New Greek Finance Minister

By Nikos Chrysoloras and Paul Tugwell  Jun 10, 2014 10:35 AM GMT+0300

(Corrects debt-to-GDP figure in second paragraph, spokeswoman in fifth.)

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras named Gikas Hardouvelis as the country’s new finance minister, replacing Yannis Stournaras in a cabinet overhaul.

Hardouvelis will try to lead the debt-stricken nation out of a six-year recession and strike a deal with euro-area member states later this year on relieving some of Greece’s debt burden. Debt is forecast to peak in 2014 at 177.2 percent of gross domestic product according to the latest review of the country’s bailout program.

Hardouvelis is chief economist at Eurobank Group and a professor of finance and economics at the University of Piraeus. He assisted former Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos’s interim government during talks with bondholders about a writedown of debt and with the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and the European Central Bank on Greece’s second adjustment program.

Hardouvelis was also chief economic adviser to former Prime Minister Costas Simitis from 2000 to 2004. He holds a doctorate in economics from the University of California, Berkley, and studied applied mathematics at Harvard University.

The appointment was announced by new government spokeswoman Sofia Voultepsi in comments broadcast on state-run Nerit TV. Alternate Finance Minister Christos Staikouras and Deputy Finance Minister George Mavraganis both retain their current positions, Voultepsi said.

Bank Chief

Stournaras, former chief executive officer of Emporiki Bank SA, was appointed finance minister in June 2012 as Greece grappled with political turmoil after an inconclusive snap election that threatened to push it out of the euro. In April of this year, Stournaras saw his country make a comeback from bond-market exile, selling 3 billion euros ($4.1 billion) in five-year notes in a sale that was heavily oversubscribed.

With over half of Greeks under the age of 24 without work, the bond rally did little to calm frustration at prolonged belt-tightening. In European Parliament elections last month, main opposition Syriza party got 26.6 percent of the vote compared with 22.7 percent for Samaras’s New Democracy. After the vote, Samaras said that he “received the message.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Nikos Chrysoloras in Athens at nchrysoloras@bloomberg.net; Paul Tugwell in Athens at ptugwell1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Heather Harris at hharris5@bloomberg.net Jerrold Colten