Tag Archives: economic crisis

Greece’s red tapes for entrepreneurs and the general business environment can be shocking, not only to Greeks but also to foreigners when they get in touch with them. David Alston, a New Brunswick’s chief entrepreneur,  was invited by a startup accelerators in Athens to offer his valuable advise. He had …

Read More »

Greece’ economy shrank by 1.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2016.This is three times worse than a first estimate of 0.4%. It was the worst quarter since 2015. OUCH. Greek GDP shrank 1.2 per cent in fourth quarter – three times worse than a first estimate of 0.4% …

Read More »

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Tuesday informed World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Secretary General Taleb Rifai that “year by year Greece is breaking records” regarding the number of visitors from abroad. The PM’s statement was made during a meeting he had with Rifai at the Maximos Mansion. Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura …

Read More »

As the government in Athens used only €32 billion from the €86 billion prepared by the European Stability Mechanism, with less than half the program until the end it is clear the final figure will be smaller than the maximum, said Klaus Regling, the facility’s managing director. German daily Bild quoted him …

Read More »

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has made serious mistakes in the first memorandum, noted the chairman of Attica Bank and Greece’s former representative to IMF Panagiotis Roumeliotis speaking to Athens Macedonian News Agency. “The wrong forecasts increased Greece’s funding needs” he said while referring to the second review he estimated …

Read More »

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble denied on Sunday that he had said Greece would have to leave the eurozone if it failed to implement economic reforms. In an ARD television interview, Schaeuble that Greece would not have problems if it implemented agreed reforms, but would if it fails to carry …

Read More »

Greek Actor Dinos Karydis warned that he would committee suicide, should his pension undergo further cuts. On his social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter, Karydis uploaded a macabre picture of himself lying on a bed and looking like sleeping or unconscious. He wrote: “If my pension undergoes further gut …

Read More »

The report of the International Monetary Fund angered not only the Greeks but also its European Lenders. Greece was angered because the IMF insists on demanding two major income cuts: pensions cut and lowering the tax-free allowance. Greece’s European lenders, on the other hand, got angry because the IMF insists …

Read More »

Half of the households in Greece declare that their sole income source is the pension of a family member. According to a survey conducted by the Small Enterprises Institute of the Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen and Merchants (IME GSEVEE), 49.2% of the household live on a pension of a …

Read More »

Economic crisis and austerity has reached unprecedented levels in the equipment of public services, including the patrol cars of the Greek police. The union of police officers in Thessaloniki uploaded two pictures from a patrol car. A wooden plank has been placed behind the driver’s seat to keep it upright. …

Read More »

It was a matter of time in Greece of bitter cold, economic crisis and apartments without central heating. A tragedy occurred in central Athens on Wednesday morning: a 87-year-old man was burned alive, his 67-year-old wife survived with heavy injuries and poisoning from the smoke inhalation. The fire broke out …

Read More »

I read about the result of a survey that “The economic crisis left Greeks the gloomiest in Europe and beyond”. What is the purpose of surveys, when the situation does not change, when millions struggle and have no hope for the future? Greece’s debt crisis has made its population the …

Read More »

A man jumped to death from the roof of his home in Ayia near Patras on Thursday. He has left a hand-written note saying “In the end, I wasn’t worth for anything.” According to local media, the 45-year-old man had a loan that he was not able to serve as …

Read More »

Did you know that there are people in Greece who cannot afford to buy even a loaf of bread at a cost of €0.60 – €0.70? Almost a year after Greece surrendered into the arms of the international lenders and the International Monetary Fund and the austerity cuts started to …

Read More »

In the years of the crisis, Greeks have turned into entrepreneurs by necessity – if not by desperation. Lack of job opportunities sends more and more unemployed Greeks into “micro-entrepreneuship” of high risk and uncertain outcome for the sole purpose of survival. Wanting to ensure a minimum income and given …

Read More »

A 73-year-old man shot and killed himself in the Athens Nursing Home for Elderly in the night of Wednesday to Thursday. The man was financially broke due to the economic crisis and homeless. He was allowed to live in the Nursing home after a decision of the board of directors. …

Read More »

The grim picture of Greek entrepreneurship confirmed by numbers: from 2008 until 2015, a total of 244,712 businesses closed their doors causing the loss of 842,670 work places. According to official data of the European Commission, the number of Greek businesses registered in 2008 were 858,685, while by end of …

Read More »

I must definitely have this historic statement in my blog even though I reported about Wolfgang Schaeuble’s Grexit-speech in Hamburg a bit earlier today. At the same “I love Grexit” CDU party event in Hamburg yesterday, the German Finance Minister said also: “Should Greece come out of the crisis, the …

Read More »

Six years of crippling financial crisis have sent Greek students to the streets. However, not for anti-austerity protests but for sex. They allegedly “sell it very cheap,”  for the price of “a cheese pie or a sandwich,”  thus “offering the lowest prices of the industry across the Continent.” “Some women …

Read More »

It was supposed to be a civilized conversation between German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and French students at the Sciences Po University in Paris. But youth apparently has no respect of self-righteous German officials and reminded him of possible policy mistakes in the Greek crisis. the atmosphere turned quickly from …

Read More »