While all other record shortages report, the former problem child in Europe, Greece writes a budget surplus of ten billion euros. The former bankruptcy status has caused a major austerity course in the last 15 years and has stabilized its state finances. However, the Greeks had to pay a high price.
Greece was held in the course of the financial crisis in 2008 because of the huge state schools and had to be financed financially by the EU. After long negotiations, a debt reduction took place in 2012. At that time, old government bonds were exchanged for new ones. The investors lost 53 percent of the nominal value. The country had to control a hard austerity course.
Fixed debt percentage reduced
Greece’s debt percentage fell from 200 to 150 percent of GDP. In contrast to other countries such as Austria, Greece expects the economic growth of two percent this year. This is not only due to the flowering tourism. On the contrary, the government managed to regain the trust of the markets. International rating agencies are again worth the investments.
“The surpluses that you have generated are also possible for you to reduce debts prematurely, and that in turn strengthens confidence as a whole in Greece and also the possibility that Greece now also gives money from the financial markets,” says Christoph Sturm, the business representative in Athens, in ORF radio.
Tax patches were closed
The rating agencies again classify the former bankruptcy status as creditworthy. With strong EU -Financial Aid, billions of billions in the modernization of the country, whether it is infrastructure, green energy or especially digitization. This helps, for example, reduce tax fraud. In the meantime, the registration funds are also directly connected to the tax office online. The meshes are becoming smaller and the government revenues are increasing.
The difficult course of the conservative government also includes fewer government benefits, including pensions. The minimum wage is rising slowly, taking care of money makes the subject of the many protests, such as the latter on 1 May. Neither the economic output nor wages and guesthouses have reached the pre -crisis level so far and inflation compensation is hardly or does not take place. Greece now has the poorest population in the EU to Bulgaria and Romania. The other side of the coin: unemployment is expected to fall below ten percent in the coming year – after more than 40 percent at the crisis brillars.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
