Neue Zürcher Zeitung: “The Greek economy is slated for slow down”

Αn article in Sunday’s Neue Zürcher Zeitung concerns the Greek economy. Its columnist argues that despite Mario Draghi’s “what ever it takes” in 2012, when he was president of the European Central Bank, “Greece is doomed to a long-term slowdown of its economy if it remains in the eurozone”.

The newspaper acknowledges the efforts that have been made after the dramatic events of 2015, when the then government toyed with the possibility of taking the country out of the eurozone in order to compromise on the improvement of unemployment, stability and funds from the Fund Recovery that helped Greece financially overcome the pandemic without going bankrupt. But its main weaknesses remain.

“Productivity growth is very modest,” the article points out. “This weak investment activity is based on the problem that relative to modest economic performance, the Greek wage and price level is too high to support a competitive export economy other than tourism. Almost no private foreign capital enters the country. If the ECB withdraws its guarantees, the financial markets will immediately panic again.”