Greece's central bank said the country could have avoided a serious recession if it had effectively used emergency support funds from the EU and does not suffer a major COVID-19 renewed outbreak, but the pandemic is likely to compound long-term financial issues, AP reported.

The CB said its main forecast for 2020 is an economic decline of 5.8%, followed by a recovery of 5.6% next year and 3.7% in 2022. But if there is a second wave of COVID-19, GDP may decline by 9.4% in 2020.

The pandemic, it said, would reverse progress made on Greece’s major long-term problems, including high unemployment and public debt.

The CB said it expects a significant drop in tourism revenue, which will exceed EUR 18 billion, about 10% of the country's annual output.