Is the Greek economic crisis over? Below some observations by Project Manager/Business Analyst at Zacks Investment Research, Harry Kougias, A Greek expat in US, who spent 4 months in Greece this year.
The Good Signs for Greece
In July 2017, Greece held its first successful bond sale in 3 years, raising 3 billion euros.
2017 is also expected to be Greece’s best for tourism ever. Over 30 million visitors are expected this year, up from 27.5 million 2016. Some islands are seeing so many tourists they’ve had to put a cap on visitors.
Popular Santorini received over 600 cruise boats in 2016. On some days, nearly 20,000 cruise ship passengers would disembark, overwhelming the small island. In response, Santorini joins other popular vacation destinations like Venice and Barcelona, in restricting the number of tourists who can enter each day.
Tourism is 24% of Greece’s GDP. 8 in 10 new jobs were created through the tourist sector.
But even with that success, it has been an uneven recovery. Not every island is Santorini. And because tourism is so seasonal, with many places shutting down in the winter months, it’s very difficult to make a living at it.
The Bad Signs for Greece
Even with tourism soaring, unemployment remains the highest in the Eurozone at 23%. For young people between the ages of 18 and 24, it is much worse. Some put the number as high as 50%.
The result has been a brain drain with many young people opting to move to other parts of the EU to start their careers. It means that Greece is losing the very people who it needs to spark the economy in the coming years.
Additionally, pensions continue to be cut, putting further strains on Greece’s seniors. via nasdaq
PS I wonder what Kougias’ observations are about the over taxation and the capital controls… But the Good/Bad signs are just a part of his podcast.
yes, greece’s youth flock to the islands to become servers in resorts…i have three nieces and nephews there now…
harilaos florakis, then general sec. of the KKE said it best when he asked …’do you want greece to become a nation of waiters?’
the prophecy is fulfilled.
depends what you mean by crisis!
greece has not fixed it’s main issues yet, and people are always more positive in the summer when tourists bring some money.
now the winter is coming so we will see the reality soon, as in:
1. unemployment is decreasing but wages are very low so its almost like they are unemployed anyway on 200 EUR a month
2. GDP will not grow 2% this year as Tsipras is promising
3. Greek banks are still technically bankrupt, no one is returning money to the banks (why should they?), non performing loans are not falling, so there will be a big issue soon with banks.
4. Creditors are pushing Greece to start auctions or they won’t get more bailout money
So as you see, things aren’t that rosy!
@Syrizee: if you think that most of global banking is not bankrupt, then you are seriously deluded. As usual, since the start of the eurozone crisis, the eurogroup has been denying reality, refusing to accept that a currency union without a central bank of last resort is a nonsense, the Germans have been refusing to recycle their ill-gotten gains from eurozone membership, and the whole thing is a mess. Pretending that Greece is the central problem of the eurozone is the act of an idiot or a liar — in some cases, both.
It’s not. No one in the eurozone cares about Greece it’s like what 1% of eurozone economy ?
They just give Greece enough cash not to starve itself and keep it going.
sweeping the floor, never tired to troll…