Greece's economy in facts and figures
(ATHENS) - Basic economic figures for Greece, the epicentre of the eurozone debt crisis and the first member state to be bailed out by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, in May 2010.
EUROZONE ENTRY: Greece joined the eurozone as its 12th member state on January 1, 2001, a year before notes and coins went into circulation. Greece had failed to meet the Maastricht Treaty criteria for eurozone membership of a public deficit of less than 3.0 percent of Gross Domestic Product and inflation at less than 2.7 percent when the Economic and Monetary Union was formally launched January 1, 1999.
PUBLIC DEBT: Greece has highest debt ratio in the bloc, owing more than 350 billion euros, and exceeds by far the eurozone limit of 60 percent of GDP. In 2010, total debt was equal to 144.9 percent of GDP, and forecast to jump to 161.7 percent in 2011. It is forecast to fall to 145.5 percent in 2012 under the budget adopted on December 7, 2011 and then be brought down to 120 percent by 2020 under a debt write-down accord with private creditors agreed in October.
PUBLIC DEFICIT: The annual public deficit -- the shortfall between revenues and spending -- was 10.6 percent in 2010. Government officials put it at 9.6 percent of GDP in 2011. The latest European Commission forecast is for it to fall to 7.0 percent in 2012 before taking into account debt reduction measures.
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT: 227.3 billion euros in 2010 (Eurostat)
ECONOMIC GROWTH: The economy shrank 4.5 percent in 2010, and is estimated to have contracted by more than 5.5 percent this year. It is forecast to shrink 2.8 percent in 2012 before returning to growth of 0.7 percent in 2013 (2012 budget, European Commission, IMF).
ECONOMY: The Greek economy is small, accounting for less than 3.0 percent of total eurozone economic output. The unofficial economy is believed to account for a third of all activity. Tourism and shipping dominate, helping drive a large number of medium-sized companies in the services sector. Stringent austerity measures to cope with the large debt burden have hit activity. Much of the economy is not competitive, leading to large and persistent balance of payments deficits, and has been in recession since 2008, with unemployment rising sharply. The EU estimates that the economy will have contracted 15 percent since the beginning of the Greek crisis.
INFLATION: 4.7 percent in 2010, 2.8 percent in 2011 and 0.6 percent in 2012 (2012 budget).
UNEMPLOYMENT: Unemployment hit 16.3 percent at the end of the second quarter this year and is expected to come in at 15.4 percent for the full-year, rising then to 17.1 percent in 2012. The EU sees unemployment at 16.6 percent this year and 18.4 percent next year.
CREDIT RATINGS: Standard and Poor's rates Greece at "CC", almost equivalent to default. It did Fitch and Moody's have the country at "CCC" and "Ca".
POPULATION: 10.78 million, down from 11.28 million in 2009, according to the latest official figures in May, as migrants leave due to the economic downturn and birth rates remain low. More than 35 percent of the population live in Athens and the immediate surrounding area.
CAPITAL: Athens
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Greek
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS: Parliamentary democracy with 300 deputies elected for four years, forming a government led currently by technocrat Lucas Papademos, ex vice-president of the European Central Bank. The president is Carolos Papoulias, elected by parliament in 2010 for five years, whose office is largely ceremonial. The last general elections in October 2009 brought the Socialist PASOK party to power but premier George Papandreou made way in November to allow Papademos to lead a coalition government (with New Democracy (conservative) and Laos (far-right) whose main task is to implement the latest EU and International Monetary Fund debt rescue. The next polls should be advanced to early 2012.
INTERNET SITES:
- http://www.statistics.gr
- http://www.primeminister.gr