Greece may end six years of austerity over debt crisis

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras presented his government's 2016-2021 plan for "fair growth", pledging brighter days for the country after six years of harsh austerity introduced to overcome the debt crisis.

A painful circle closes for Greece following the completion of the first review of the third Greek bailout, Tsipras on Thursday told a forum on development hosted at the Acropolis Museum, Xinhua news agency reported.

Focus will be shifted from now on to growth boosting policies to address the high unemployment rates challenge and redistribute burdens and wealth, he said.

"For first time in the past six years we have a stable macroeconomic, fiscal and investment environment. The main focus now is development and all government efforts are geared towards one strategic target: promoting fair growth," he said.

Tsipras criticised previous growth plans presented by his predecessors labelling them as unsustainable and socially unfair.

He also referred to a series of financing tools available from now in particular to small- and medium- sized enterprises as part of efforts to attract more investments and create "long-lasting and decent" job positions.

The Greek leader also mentioned a new development law the parliament approved as a key tool in the growth process.

"The new development law foresees total investments of 13 billion euros (about $14 billion) by 2021," he noted.

The government's goal is to reduce by then to half the current unemployment rates which stand at around 24 per cent of the working force, Tsipras added.

The law which was expected to come into effect in September foresees among others taxation incentives for investors.