Greece exits bailout monitoring, but austerity pain lingers

While European Commission celebrates, Athens still struggles with weaknesses that have weighed on growth for decades.

 
ATHENS — Greece is set to graduate from post-bailout monitoring — and government and creditors are touting the exit as the end of a dark era that inflicted deep scars on the economy and society.

On August 20, Athens officially winds down the enhanced surveillance regime that followed its three back-to-back bailouts from 2010 to 2018. The move sends “a message to investors and markets that Greece is out of the woods [and] a step closer to investment grade,” according to George Pagoulatos, head of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy think tank in Athens.

“After 12 years … a difficult chapter for our country comes to a close,” Greece’s Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said in a statement last week, adding that this will allow the country greater freedom in making economic policy.

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Πηγή: politico.eu