Up to 2008, when the great financial crisis emerged, about 20 billion euros in capital investments on an annual basis entered the Greek economy with ease, funding a multitude of activities in our country.
To make it understood just how much and important that flow of capital was for the economy, we should point out that it amounted to the funds of a five-year support program!
After 2008, the funding literally dried up, with a significant impact on the Greek economy.
Anybody with real experiences of how the private sector has been working for the past four years knows firsthand how great the consequences of the credit crunch that dominated after the Greek economy was excluded from the international markets.
Due to this exclusion, Greek banks were under threat, the terms of the trade changed, the concept of credit was lost, transactions became difficult or ended altogether in cases where there were not enough resources or credit assistance anymore.
Those without cash or at least a rudimentary access to funding sources shut down or dramatically restricted their activities, resulting in closures, dismissals, wage cuts and ultimately the economy sinking deeper in the recession.
That is why it was critical first to save the banking system and then reorganize and gift it with healthy new funds, so that it can essentially regain trust.
And after that occurred, we must regain the lost credibility and trust for our state.
That is how the Greek Democracy managed to return to the international markets last week.
All of this is to underline the monumental importance of Greece’s credit exclusion from the international funding sources.
Following the latest developments, the Greek economy is returning, it is being accepted by the international credit system, its banks and businesses are regaining the ability to seek out critical and cheaper funds from the credit market and will be in the position to participate in the financial game on equal terms, to begin growth plans and dream again of creation and progress.
To be accurate, everything that happened last week indicate the end of the war.
The return to the markets was like the war ended and the foundations for a new, peaceful era have been laid.
So instead of shadowboxing, our leaders must take advantage of the new era and focus on the reconstruction of the country and supporting our society, especially the youth, which will deterministically bear the brunt of reconstructing the “post-war” Greece
TO VIMA
Originally published in the Sunday print edition
