Greeks Express Pessimism Over Economic Wellbeing

Greek citizens have grave concerns about their futures as the country continues to try to recover from the ongoing financial crisis, a new poll has revealed.

Pollster MRB asked people in Greece when they thought the situation would improve for them and their families and the results make for some difficult reading for the country’s government, Reuters reported.

More than half of those surveyed (51.8%) either believe the situation will take at least eight years to improve or think it may never get better. Meanwhile, 15.7% think it could take between six and eight years for things to improve for the people of Greece, and 14.7% believe their situation will improve within four or five years.

Just 7.4% of those polled think the country’s situation will improve within the next two or three years, with just 0.5% optimistic Greece will see an upturn in fortunes with the next year.

The global financial crisis of the late 2000s had a devastating effect on Greece, as the legacy of high public spending and widespread tax evasion combined with the credit crunch and the resulting recession to leave the country with a crippling debt burden.

The country was forced to bring in a series of tough austerity measures and received enormous loans from the International Monetary Fund and the EU as well as a write-off of some debts in return for enforcing austerity on the Greek population.

Earlier this week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel performed a major U-turn on her plans to rescue the eurozone from economic turmoil where Greece has been the key victim.

Since 2010, Merkel has urged the IMF to play a key role in tackling the Greek debt crisis. But new plans laid out by her party could see the IMF take a far smaller role in any future bailouts.

The Christian Democratic Union wants the Eurozone’s bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, to be dramatically expanded. The policy was unveiled in the party’s manifesto ahead of September’s crunch elections in Germany.

German’s finance minister last week said Germany, the EU and the IMF disagreed on whether Greece’s debt was sustainable. Wolfgang Schaeuble said: “We have all acknowledged that the third Greek bailout payment will be the last with the participation of the IMF.” He also claimed Greece would be forced to leave the eurozone before it is offered debt relief.