b g workin eurg posystem aper - bank of greece.pdf

BANK OF GREECE EUROSY STEM Working Paper The Greek current account deficit: is it sustainable after all? George A. Zombanakis Constantinos Stylianou Andreas S. Andreou 98 WORKINKPAPERWORKINKPAPERWORKINKPAPERWORKINKPAPERW JUNE 2009 BANK OF GREECE Economic Research Department – Special Studies Division 21, Ε. Venizelos Avenue GR-102 50 Αthens Τel: +30210-320 3610 Fax: +30210-320 2432 www.bankofgreece.gr Printed in Athens, Greece at the Bank of Greece Printing Works. All rights reserved. Reproduction for educational and non-commercial purposes is permitted provided that the source is acknowledged. ISSN 1109-6691 THE GREEK CURRENT ACCOUNT DEFICIT: IS IT SUSTAINABLE AFTER ALL? George A. Zombanakis Bank of Greece Constantinos Stylianou University of Cyprus Andreas S. Andreou University of Cyprus ABSTRACT The large Greek current account deficit figures reported during the past few years have become the source of increasing concern regarding its sustainability. Bearing in mind the variety of techniques employed and the views expressed as regards the analysis and the assessment of the size of the current account deficit, this paper resorts to using neural network architectures to demonstrate that, despite its size, the current account deficit of Greece can be considered sustainable. Th