Aberdeen: Is Greece coming back from the abyss?

ON EUROPE

It was not until 2009 when Greece admitted that its budget deficit was not 3.7% but 14%. At the time tax evasion was rife, two-thirds of Greek doctors reported incomes of less than €12,000, and famously a group of orthodox monks managed to persuade ministers to swap a worthless lake in the north of the country for €1bn of prime government property.

Since then Greece has been on an austerity diet administered by the tripartite collective of the EU, the ECB and the IMF colloquially known as the Troika.  The fallout has been particularly violent and nearly resulted in the anti-austerity party Syriza taking power in the election last  year, which prompted fears of a ‘Grexit’ and the country returning to the economic dark ages. On the face of it reports suggest that the country is bouncing back from the abyss. A hugely painful 10% fiscal adjustment has been made in three years and the Troika expects a primary budget surplus and a neglig...