(MENAFN- AFP) The risk of a disorderly Greek eurozone exit has receded substantially, Greece's central banker said on Thursday as he urged for the aggressive pursuit of pending structural reforms."The risk of a Grexit accident has been drastically reduced," Bank of Greece governor George Provopoulos said in an interview to AFP, whilst noting progress on reforms which is enabling the country to enter a "virtuous circle".Provopoulos, 62, called for a "more aggressive" implementation of structural reforms tied to billions of euros in EU-IMF bailout aid."We have quite a long agenda of things to do, regarding privatisations, reform in the product and services market, improving the tax collecting mechanism which has a number of weaknesses and so on," Provopoulos said.He noted that in the first phase of the programme "although the country placed emphasis on fiscal consolidation, on structural reforms the efforts were quite incomplete," he said. "As a result, the GDP reduction was much higher than initially anticipated."Senior auditors from the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank are returning to Greece later this month to gauge the progress of reforms.Their report will determine whether Greece will access a scheduled slice of 2.8 billion euros from its international creditors due later this month.Greece is trying to emerge from a six-year recession that has brought layoffs and public budget cuts to hundreds of thousands of Greek households.European Union leaders agreed in December to give Greece 49.1 billion euros ($66 billion) in return for additional austerity measures, breaking a six-month stalemate.But the European Commission warned at the time that "very large" implementation risks remained.The fiscal overhaul has sparked waves of strikes and protests, many of them violent.Another general strike has been called by unions for February 20.But economic indicators have improved since June, when the country emerged from a period of political uncertainty capped by back-to-back elections before a coalition government could be formed.The Greek stock exchange index has more than doubled in value, bank deposits are returning and the Greek spread -- the differential with benchmark German 10-year sovereign bonds -- is under 1,000 basis points compared to over 3,000 a few months back, Provopoulos said.In January, the European Central Bank announced that a number of Greek banks, which have a systemically important presence in Southeastern Europe, had regained access to regular ECB funding.Greek exports also rose for a second straight year in 2012.And the Bank of Greece expects the economy will return to growth in mid-2014, Provopoulos said.Greece's uneasy ruling coalition rests on the support of the socialist and moderate leftist parties which do not always see eye to eye with the conservatives of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras."Since June, all reforms included in the programme have been legislated and we know that the government is accelerating its pace towards implementing them," Provopoulos said."The gross fiscal measures from 2010 until 2014, add up to around 30 percentage points of GDP," he said."I know of no historic precedent where a fiscal package of 30 percentage points of GDP has been attempted, in such a short period of time" the central banker said."It explains certain social reactions," he said, referring to the union backlash.An upcoming visit by French President Francois Hollande on February 19, following a trip to Athens by German Chancellor Angela Merkel last year, is another positive sign.Provopoulos noted that France has a "traditionally close" relationship with Greece and has repeatedly proven its support."I think this is a good opportunity to deepen the already good relations with France," Provopoulos said, adding: "We expect a certain understanding (from France)."Provopoulos, 62, has helmed the Bank of Greece since 2008. He previously held senior posts at three of the country's main lenders -- Alpha Bank, Emporiki Bank and Piraeus Bank and served as general director of the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research.
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