“Absolutely necessary” is how economic reforms implemented in Greece during the memorandum period were described by Kyriakos Pierrakakis, talking to Financial Times.
According to YPEΘO, the measures imposed by the Troika were the basic precondition for fiscal stabilizationand the current improved picture of the Greek economy.
Kyriakos Pierrakakis stressed that many of these changes made in the country, such as the strict austerity programme and the reforms were necessary for the country to regain its fiscal reliability and return to a growth path.
As he said, reforms were the “necessary condition” for the current performance of the Greek economy.
At the same time, he acknowledged that the management of the Greek crisis by the Troika had both positive and negative aspects, noting that Europe must learn from the mistakes of that period.
Greece is now in a completely different economic position compared to the crisis years, he pointed out.
According to the Financial Times, the country is among the few economies in the European Union that are running a primary surplus, while public debt is steadily declining.
Estimates suggest that Greek debt will fall to 137.6% of GDP, lower even than Italy’s.
At the same time, Greece has managed to pay earlier its IMF loans and return to international markets, while its economic growth is now outpacing several major eurozone countries. These developments are presented by government officials and European institutions as a result of the reforms implemented since 2010.
However, the period of memorandum of understanding continues to provoke intense debate because of the large social costs it has caused.
The Greek economy lost about 25% of its GDP between 2008 and 2013, while unemployment exploded to 26.6% in 2014 from about 8% before the crisis.
Several of the key players of the time now admit that the policies that were implemented had too much social impact.
However, the Financial Times also points out that countries like Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain,which implemented difficult adjustment programmes over the past decade, are now showing better fiscal performance compared with larger Eurozone economies like Germany and France.
