Greece Has Great Potential

Top Stories January 31, 2010 1:04am EST By Dimitri Kanellopoulos, BuyActive. com Greece has great potential DAVOS, Switzerland (BuyActive) – The problems faced by the Greek economy are not as catastrophic as the world may think. Greece has not asked for help from anybody and I believe they can take care of their problems by themselves. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Greece’s Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou also believes that “Greece will do whatever it takes to bring the deficit down” through cuts in spending and increased revenue. Although the present deficit of 12. 7 percent of the GDP is rather high, the Greek governement has launched a plan whereby this will be reduced to 9. 1% by the end of this year and by 2012 they will have reduced their debt to 3 percent. Everybody believes it will be difficult for Greece to reach this goal, but I am confident Greece will achieve it. In Davos, Switzerland, Greece’s Prime Minister George Papandreou criticised that countries like Greece “are being used as the weak link”. Although many countries may be in a worse situation, Greece is being used as a scapegoat. The stock market goes down, it’s Greece’s fault, the value of the Euro goes down, it’s Greece’ fault, whatever the problem, blame it on Greece. Besides the Greek debt crisis, there are increased fears about default risks in Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy. Deficits and debt-to-GDP ratios are going up and the recession is continuing. Spain’s unemployment rate is almost 20 per cent, about double Greece’s and in Portugal, the debt is expected to skyrocket by next year. Greece issued an eight-billion euro bond recently and plans to issue another bond in February, reassuring markets it can raise funds as needed to take care of their finances. Investors should look to Greece with confidence in this uncertain time because the country has great potential.