Greece economy is regarded as the 45th largest in the world with a GDP of close to $240B per annum. Greece is part of the European Union and is the 13th largest economy within the Euro Zone. Service sector contributes about 80% followed by 16% from tourism, shipping and other industries. Agriculture contributes about 4% to the economy. Greece is regarded as one of the largest contributors to the agricultural industry within the Eurozone.
The financial crisis of early 2000, started of the greasy roadway to Greece’s economic turndown. Revision of its GDP growth through the years escalated by global financial jamboree of the recent years, did not help Greece much.
Greece had admitted that in 2009 it has been understating its deficit figures for the past few years, which resulted in countries off-loading their Greek bonds and further pushing the Greek economy into a crisis.
In the year 2010 Greece was about to default on its payments but was bailed out by the IMF with stern austerity measures implied to help rudder back the economy to shape. Most of the bailout payout was spend on paying of the debt it had accumulated over the years.
Greece missed its payout of $1.7B to IMF and went into arrears of this payment. The next key date to watch out is in July 2015 as it has a payout due to the European Bank.
Though Greece is taking measures to boost up its economy, it is not able to keep up with the rest of the world on this front. Coupled with an aging population and high unemployment rate, the pressure on the Greece government to apply un-traditional strategies is mounting.
The concern for Greece will be to avoid going the Argentinian way, which has gone through many of such phases in the past. China has been contributing to Argentina’s economic growth.
Greece may want to start looking East to boost its economic growth by making some smart investments in encouraging economies in Asia. Asia is still the zone of global growth pushed by a population eager to spend.
A deeper crisis within the Greece economy may affect the Eurozone which in turn could further slowdown the economies globally.
A deeper crisis is improbable as it is expected that Greece will be bailed out with further austerity measures implied by the IMF and the Eurozone to avert a Global financial crisis.
