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The Problems and Consequences of Greek Financial Crisis

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Submitted By Shreeram
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1. In Greece the banks didn’t sink the country. The country sank the banks. Discuss this view. Which are the main differences between the Greek crisis and the crisis of Ireland and Portugal?
The main cause of the Greek crisis is the ongoing disclosure of statistics that were well hidden from the eyes of the public, leaving people in ignorance about their own country and the future. When the figures started to become revealed, breaking up the shocking news about the forgery that lasted for over 30 years, it left the world in wonder – how is it possible to disclose such a thing for so long, and how is it possible that such action remains unpunished?
The problems caused by the global recession were compounded by revelations that national statistics had been altered in order to cover the fact that Greece, in terms of debt levels, exceeded limits set down by the EU. The country's debt is already well over 100 percent of GDP and is still rising. According to euro zone rules, total government debt should not exceed 60 percent of GDP. The country's budget deficit in 2009 was almost 13 percent of GDP, more than four times the 3 percent limit allowed in the euro zone. But beyond the debt there is more deficit.

What Greeks did when they got all this borrowed money, they gave away incredible sums to citizens, raised the wages to such an extent that it created a serious budget deficit. Inefficient Government? Corrupted mentality? Call it as you like, but it caused consequences that citizens, and not only them but the entire Europe, will have to bare for many years from now. Once the truth started to unveil, the new Government started to discover more omissions and misreports.
So the banks came into the picture in the form of loan offerings to these customers and other such offerings like personal loans and credit card loans. When the news of recession hit Greece, the real

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