ATHENS: He has inherited one of the toughest government jobs around, and the experienced banker and economist brought in to run Greece's finance ministry finds himself with few options in dealing with the country's huge debts.
Gikas Hardouvelis was appointed as part of a major shake-up of the Greek cabinet after the ruling party's poor performance in last month's EU elections.
Having served as chief economist at a private Athens bank and advisor to former prime minister Lucas Papademos, he comes with plenty of experience, but is not expected to follow a radically new direction.
"The choice of Hardouvelis follows the same political line as his predecessor Yannis Stournaras. There will not be any changes," Panayotis Petrakis, an economics professor at Athens University, told AFP.
The 59-year-old ex-banker comes from the same centre-left political circle as Stournaras, who spent two years at the finance ministry and is widely tipped to be the next governor of the central bank.
Hardouvelis's first major task will come in two months when he will seek to secure the last instalment of bailout funds from the so-called troika of lenders the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
He knows the issue well, having been a key part of the team that negotiated the restructuring of Greece's debts at the height of its economic meltdown in late 2011 and early 2012, when nearly 106 billion euros ($143 billion) of private debt was wiped out in exchange for stringent bailout conditions.
Hardouvelis will hope for an easing of the tough austerity measures imposed by the international community that have angered many voters and helped propel the radical left-wing Syriza to victory in EU polls.
Many blame the austerity programme for the country's formidable social problems, including unemployment at a staggering 26.8 percent, that has further eroded consumer spending.
"Implementing the reforms that Greece is obliged to carry out by its creditors is a one-way street for recovery, (but he should also be) against new cuts and raising taxes," the centre-left daily Ethnos wrote.
Signs of improvement:
Hardouvelis will be helped by signs of improvement in the Greek economy, which has seen its stock market climb and six-month bond rates fall from 2.7 percent a month ago to 2.15 percent, raising 1.625 billion euros ($2.21 billion).
But lenders are likely to remain adamant that Greece sticks to the tough reform programme, especially in the public sector, not least because of the country's dangerously high levels of public debt.
It is projected to peak at around 174 percent of output this year before declining to about 128 percent in 2020, and 117 percent in 2022, the IMF said in a report on Tuesday.
Delicate debt negotiations with Europe are set to begin in the autumn. An EU report in April said it was "essential to ensure that the ambitious reform agenda is fully implemented to close any remaining fiscal gaps."
An ardent defender of debt reduction, the IMF has said the Greek government had exceeded targets on closing its budget gap, although it acknowledged the challenges facing the country in fully stabilising its finances while also returning to sustainable growth.
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