Trade with Greece
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to Greece by its partners in the euro zone. By the
end of 2014, Greece will have received financial
assistance of
€
236.8 billion, of which
€
197.6 bil-
lion from the European Union. Although after
receiving the
€
52.4 billion tranche the remainder of
the funds to be collected in 2013-2014 amounts to
just
€
35.8 billion, commitment to the programme’s
implementation is the only means for ensuring the
further upgrade of Greece’s credit rating and its
return to the markets from 2015. Provided, of
course, that the reliability of economic policy deci-
sions in Greece has been fully restored; in other
words, provided that the country has avoided any
political accident that could be caused by the forces
of populism and impertinent irresponsibility.
It should also be noted that this improvement in
sentiment towards the country is, to a great
extent, the outcome of an improvement in certain
fundamentals of the Greek economy. Thus, now
that the year 2012 is gone, there is increasing evi-
dence that certain solid steps are gradually made
towards restructuring the economy, which,
despite the crisis in the euro zone, is obviously
becoming more extrovert – as demonstrated by
the growth in exports. Therefore, in 2012 we saw
a significant improvement in the balance of pay-
ments, which just two years ago showed a deficit
of more than 15% of the gross domestic product.
The enhancement of extroversion goes hand in
hand with the improvement of the economy’s
competitiveness, through a focus on the produc-
tion of internationally tradable products.
Hence, we currently have the opportunity to
exploit more efficiently the country’s major com-
petitive advantages, which had largely gone
underutilized until now. For example, there are
cases in which the Greek soil was put to good use
for the production of high value added goods,
which in the past were exported in bulk. It goes
without saying that similar goods also support
Greek tourism, which, in the 21st century, may
prove to be as valuable as oil. This is why we
insist that it is crucial for Greece to place even
more emphasis on the Cretan diet, which can be
combined with the development of med-
ical/healing tourism.
