Eurozone crisis

Without Wolfgang Schaeuble's strong political presence, it is doubtful that the eurozone would have been able to face the monumental challenge of an economic crisis within its own borders and, above all, cope with the Greek crisis by taking initiatives that went beyond the narrow framework of the Treaties and required the allocation of hefty funds.

A significant reduction in the debt ratio, the strengthening of economic resilience, and improvement in Greece's governance indicators are the three essential steps required for the country to fully normalize and regain an A credit rating, as it had before the debt crisis, thus aligning with the average credit rating of eurozone economies. This analysis comes from the Bank of Greece.

Greece plans to raise up to €10 billion from debt markets via short- and long-term bond issues next year, its debt agency PDMA said on Friday.

Outlining its 2024 strategy, PDMA said Greece plans to repay ahead of schedule more bailout loans and reduce the amount of T-bills in circulation.

Greece proceeded on Friday with the early repayment of two installments of bilateral loans, as it had long planned, almost halving its financing needs for the next two years, while deflating the cushion of cash reserves, which was designed to decrease after the recovery of investment grade.

One of the key figures that captured the hardship of the decade-long economic crisis in Greece was the unemployment rate, which peaked at 28 percent in the summer of 2013. Today, the latest statistics show that Greece's unemployment rate has fallen below 10 percent for the first time since the onset of the crisis.

The Greek economy grew by 2.1% in the third quarter of 2023 compared with the same period last year, with the country's GDP rising by 0.02% between the third and second quarter of 2023, the Hellenic Statistical Authority said on Wednesday.

Greece will next month repay ahead of schedule 5.3 billion euros ($5.8 billion) of loans owed to eurozone countries under its first bailout, and hopes to repeat the move in 2024, Finance Ministry officials told Reuters on Tuesday.

On Tuesday Prime Minister Mitsotakis highlighted to German Chanellor Olaf Scholz that Greece has the fastest rate of debt reduction in the world. From around 206% of GDP in 2020, Greek debt is expected to decline this year to around 160% of GDP, and this downward trajectory is expected to continue throughout the decade.

The European Commission sees Greece's economic growth at 2.4% in 2023 and 2.2% until 2025, above the eurozone and EU average, in its fall economic forecasts released on Wednesday, pointing out that this growth is supported by the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan and a resilient labor market.

Demand for a 20% stake in Greece's National Bank (NBG) held by the country's bank bailout fund was covered by more than six times on Tuesday, in the first day of a book-building process which ends later this week, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

"Demand covered 6.2 times the shares offered," the source involved in the process said on condition of anonymity.