The macroeconomic and fiscal path in Greece during the economic adjustment programmes: 2010 to 2018



In this conference organized by the Economic Chamber of Greece on 24 November 2020, we presented joint NIESR and CEPS work on debt sustainability analysis (presented by Cinzia Alcidi) and the macroeconomic and fiscal path (presented by Corrado Macchiarelli and myself) during the three adjustment programmes from 2010 to 2018 in Greece.



The panel included Yiannis Stournaras, Governor of the Bank of Greece, Christos Staikouras, Minister of Finance of the Hellenic Republic and former Ministers of Finance Euclid Taskalotos and Evangelos Venizelos.

The topics discussed included (in no particular order):
  • Should the debt relief have come earlier? Should private sector involvement have been done earlier?
  • Was the length and severity of the adjustment programmes appropriate?
  • Was the mix of expenditure cuts and tax rises appropriate? Should public investment have been ring-fenced? Were the fiscal multipliers underestimated?
  • Was the EU framework appropriate to manage such crisis? European Stability Mechanism (ESM), European Central Bank (ECB), Deauville declaration by Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, involvement of the International Monetary Fund
  • Was there enough attention paid to making the programmes acceptable to the Greek public and politicians?
  • Were product and labour market reforms successful in improving competitiveness?
  • Was the sequencing of reforms appropriate?

Here are the slides of the presentation.


The results of the studies presented were funded by the European Commission.


 

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