Greece plunges back into budget crisis, 10 years after bailout

Text by: Patricia Lecompte

Ten years ago, today, on May 2, 2010, the finance ministers of the Eurogroup decided to launch the aid plan for Greece in the midst of an economic downturn. After three successive plans, and 289 billion euros in loans from the IMF and the European authorities, Greece is just beginning to catch its breath. A short respite. The still convalescent Greek economy will fall into recession, this time due to the coronavirus.

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Barely out of ten years of austerity, the Greeks fear to see their country confined. To stem the epidemic of coronavirus the government imposed since March 23 a general confinement, which put an abrupt end to the tourist activity.

The travel industry contributes 30% to the wealth of the country's economy. In 2018, 32 million tourists visited Greece. However due to the pandemic, the country remains closed for tourism for the moment. The fall in the sector raises fears of a surge in unemployment which has gone from 28% in 2013 to 16% currently.

To finance the impact linked to the coronavirus, Greece raised 2 billion euros on April 15 and has just allocated 24 billion euros of national and European funds to support the economy due to the pandemic. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotaki has warned that the country will experience a deep recession. A forecast confirmed by the International Monetary Fund which forecasts a contraction of 10% of Greece's GDP and an unemployment rate of 22.3% in 2020, before however a recovery in 2020 accompanied by growth of around 5%.

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