According to its quarterly report, the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) warns Greece that if reforms are not implemented the country’s economy, which is estimated to expand by 0.7 percent this year, would risk a down fall into the mire of the recent crisis years, reports Kathimerini newspaper.

“For Greece’s economy, the dilemma has never been clearer: From the point of stabilization, where it currently is, there are clearly two paths ahead. The first is that of reform, which will doubtlessly move it away from the crisis, and the other is that of backtracking and compromise with the inefficient production pattern of the last few decades, which sooner or later will lead us back to a crisis” stresses IOBE.

During the presentation of the report on Wednesday, IOBE researchers noted however that crisis in its biggest part has passed behind and that the central estimate for growth this year is achievable while unemployment will decline marginally to 26.7 percent. Household consumption is also expected to increase by 1%, attributed to recent financial and political developments. As to exporting, IOBE pointed out that since the beginning of 2011, the biggest increase in exports was recorded within the first quarter of this year, reaching 4.5 percent of increase, but that was solely due to the major growth in service exports (up 13.1 percent year-on-year). Commodity exports only posted a marginal rise of 0.5 percent.