Greek government-debt crisis

Every miracle lasts three days - and so does mourning. Then, all hell breaks loose and Greece goes back to doing what it does best, which is shifting responsibilities.

Greece achieved the second highest growth rate in the eurozone in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to the same period in 2021, according to data published by Eurostat on Wednesday.

Greece is close to regaining its investment-grade credit rating in 2023, after 12 years of relegation to junk status, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

"We think that 2023 is the year will get the investment grade," Greek central bank chief Yannis Stournaras said in an interview with the paper, urging the country's next government to maintain fiscal prudence.

Greece's annual European Union-harmonized inflation rate fell to 6.5% in February from 7.3% in January, Eurostat said in its flash estimate on inflation trends on Thursday.

This was the fourth lowest rate in the eurozone last month.

Cyprus' gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5.6% in real terms in 2022, according to a provisional estimate published by the country's statistical service CyStat on Wednesday.

This compares with a provisionally estimated average eurozone GDP growth of 3.5% and European Union GDP growth of 3.6% in 2022.

"The latest data on the course of the Extrajudicial Debt Settlement Mechanism prove that it is now functioning satisfactorily," Finance Μinister Christos Staikouras said on the occasion of the publication of the progress report of the out-of-court settlement mechanism. 

The funeral was held in the southern town of Tripoli on Thursday of a Hellenic Air Force officer aboard the F-4E Phantom II jet that crashed in the Ionian Sea on Monday. The plane went down during a training exercise, and the body of the co-pilot, Lieutenant Marios Touroutsikas, 29, was discovered shortly after.

If you walk into a tiger's cage, a friend quipped, make sure you don't touch the wild cat's whiskers. Put differently, when you challenge a more intelligent person than yourself to a public debate, do not attempt to underestimate their intelligence; you only risk exposing yourself to ridicule.

The main opposition party has returned to "the streets, populism and unbridled lies," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has told members of his cabinet, following SYRIZA's recent decision to abstain from any parliamentary votes until a national election is held.

In 2021, EU households spent over 1.035 billion euros, which is equivalent to 7.1% of the total EU GDP, on "Food and non-alcoholic beverages", according to data from the official European statistics agency Eurostat.