ATHENS – Seven years after the end of three international bailouts of 326 billion euros ($379.51 billion) to prevent an economic collapse – and brought harsh austerity – Greece’s economic comeback has gained worldwide attention.
It began with the election of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in 2019, who ousted the anti-business Radical Left SYRIZA – and has lured foreign investors and Greece setting tourism records with the waning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mitsotakis won re-election in 2023 and said he’s setting his sights now on societal benefits and planning 2 billion euros ($2.33 billion) in additional relief measures along with previously announced plans to return to renters one month’s rent.
The Editorial Board of the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor, hailed for its international coverage, wrote that, “Just a decade after teetering on the edge of a national bankruptcy that shook Europe’s economy, Greece is restoring its financial and political bona fides. Its own citizens, fellow members of the European Union, and global observers are taking note of the country’s economic and governance makeover.”
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/0820/Greece-acquires-the-Midas-touch
It pointed out that the Greek stock market is 2025’s best performer worldwide, well above other European bourses and the S&P 500 in the United States, with energy stocks driving some returns near 40 percent.
Greece has already repaid some of its bailout loans early and plans to do the same with the rest 10 years before their due date, has a primary surplus and expected to grow another 2.1 percent in 2025.
Ironically, Greece’s economy in 2024, grew twice as fast as that of Germany – one of its biggest bailout lenders and which called for brutal pay cuts, tax hikes, slashed pensions and worker firings
And in 2023, Greece regained investment grade status, a year after adopting a National Anti-Corruption Action Plan although it still ranks low on Transparency International’s index for corruption.
To curb a culture of tax evasion and bribery, for example, many government services are now digitized. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis hopes such steps will restore trust in institutions and improve investment, the paper said.
“Crucially,” analyst Seema Shah wrote in London’s Sunday Times, Greece has demonstrated it can “live within its means in terms of public spending” – while cracking down on its “shadow economy.”
Greeks are among the lowest paid and highest-taxed in the European Union, with a top rate of 44 percent for just 40,000 euros ($46,557) – while Spain has a 45 percent rate that doesn’t kick in until 300,000 euros ($349,178) in annual income.
“In a land where democratic ideals bloomed centuries ago, the principles of financial discipline and transparent government are deepening their roots. The alignment between more growth and honest governance is not coincidental. Even if uneven, Greeks are discovering that both trends can reinforce each other,” the paper said.
In 2024, Greece scored near or above average on several anti-corruption measures set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development but it was noted that now it’s caught up in an European Public Prosecutor’s (EPPO) investigation of alleged corruption in European Union farm subsidy fraud.
Two ministers have resigned after being implicated by EPPO but the government refused to investigate them. The paper said that Mitsotakis has acknowledged “the state’s inadequacy,” declaring that political graft “cannot govern the way we conduct business.”
“Political meddling, in fact, led to Greece’s 2010 economic tailspin, as the then-government manipulated key financial statistics to hide negative trends. Coming clean about the numbers helped Greece make its case for financial support from the EU and the International Monetary Fund – and forced the former Socialist government to rein in profligate spending,” the paper said
With US President Donald Trump being accused by critic of trying to manipulate data, the paper, referring to Greece, said that, “Accurate data is essential not only for government and international lenders. Businesses and individuals, too, rely on reliable statistics to make investments or plan for retirement.”
Andreas Georgiou, who ran the national statistical office from 2010 to 2015 and was prosecuted multiple times on charges of fudging data – never proved and despite his support from the European Union’ statistics agency Eurostat, wrote in the New York Times that, “Statistics enable democratic accountability.”
He added that, “Trust in official statistics is essential for many aspects of economic and social life, including the functioning of democracy itself,” although he left Greece after being hounded by successive governments.
