After four years of exclusion, the Hellenic Democracy has found its place again in the international credit system.
The attempt to return to the markets was successful, the offers greatly exceeded Greece’s expectations and the interest rate is much better from the one Greece used to borrow, prior to being excluded from the markets.
Success is granted and yesterday was important for the Greek people.
No matter how much some want to downplay the fact, they cannot deny the powerful symbolism, or its meaning to the Greek economy.
It is the first great step towards reintegration in the global financial system, as it constitutes recognition of progress and restores the trust that had been lost in previous years.
Let us not forget that in the past fours years there were moments when Greek businesses couldn’t even carry out the simplest of transactions abroad. There were even moments when trust, the deposits and savings of the Greek people was at risk.
That is why so many funds found their way abroad and the economy has literally dried up.
It is the first time in four years that one can truly hope that the credit conditions in Greece will change; the funding will become available once more for industry, production, trade, tourism and the other services.
The effects of returning to the markets will be, without a shadow of a doubt, positive and encouraging for economic activity.
There can be no recovery without returning to the markets. And if there was a recovery, it would be slow, torturous and ultimately miserable.
Without a doubt, the credit lines will reopen, part of the funds will return, bank financing will gradually be restored, the trading conditions will improve, the economy will pick up its pace and overcome the suffocating environment.
Additionally, by gradually regaining its spot in the international monetary system and in conjunction with the changes in financial structures, Greece has the opportunity to receive funds and investments that seemed unthinkable a few years ago.
Now that Greece has returned to the markets and many risks have gone away, over the next period the huge multination companies will consider establishing operations in Greece to take advantage of the country’s geopolitical position.
The port of Piraeus can turn into one of the largest international trade centers for Europe and Africa, while Aspropyrgos can become an international assembly base for completing industrial and technological products.
Overall, the country has a lot to gain from the new, emergent wave of globalization and enjoy the waves of progress that it had been denied in the previous decades due to Greek stubbornness and obsessions that plagued the political class.
In any case, the return to the markets is a huge fact and it would be a mistake to attribute it to the elections or other reasons.
It is beyond that, it had been planed and it must be treated as a liberating move for financial independence more than anything, as it signals the end of the bailouts.
And that is priceless.
Antonis Karakousis
