The current crisis was not a problem caused by the global economic downturn, in fact the drops in tourism were no more than 10% and shipping, well, eventhough it was hit during the recession, but shipping accounts for only 4.5% of our GDP. It had little to do with the global economic crisis because a) greek banks were not exposed to failed institutions and b) greece does not export much anyway.
The problem with the economy of Greece is that it is not diversified, it was heavily de-industrialized in the 90s, with rampant corruption, protectionism and an third-world-level tax collection policies. The governments are mainly at fault for these excesses. As things proved out to be, the growth rates of the 00s (the largest in EU) were fake, based on lending that was not reported (and, guess what, nobody has yet gone to jail for that). The current crisis emerged because they were no longer able to hide the fact that the country is insolvent.
At the current point, I think it's too late to save the Greek economy anyway. The best options we have are either a) the EU guarantees a large part of our debt (like 50% or so, via something like eurobonds that basically amounts to a bailout) or b) we default and leave the eurozone to rebuild the economy from the start.
It's silly to say it had little to do with the global economic crisis. Economic production following the initial global downturn went down 8% [1], construction 73% [2], and retail 9% [3].
What's interesting to me is why you think what you think about the Greek economy or the reasons for its collapse? (A sincere question)
The data you point to are for 2010, when greece entered the EU/IMF mechanism and govt spending stopped. This does not have to do with the global economic recession that started in 2008.
I am Greek, and know that Greek banks were very little exposed to the international toxic assets. None of them collapsed, in fact they chose not to take govt-offered support money they were offered (28 bil. euro or so) in 2008. There are structural problems here, and although measures are being taken to rationalize the market, it's gonna take years to see the results.
To your first point - point taken. A better reference would have been the fact that the World Economic Outlook Database reported Greece had entered a recession in 2009.
I'm Bulgarian and none of the Bulgarian banks had any problems, but the Bulgarian economy has definitely suffered, for the same reasons as Greece. Both are relatively small European economies, so any dip in the European market has a pronounced effect (easiest to see in tourism). So, you're not proving anything by saying your banks had no problems.
I 'm saying that the crisis would have emerged even if there was no global recession. It's a solvency crisis caused by rampant government lending for more than 15 years before 2010.
The problem with the economy of Greece is that it is not diversified, it was heavily de-industrialized in the 90s, with rampant corruption, protectionism and an third-world-level tax collection policies. The governments are mainly at fault for these excesses. As things proved out to be, the growth rates of the 00s (the largest in EU) were fake, based on lending that was not reported (and, guess what, nobody has yet gone to jail for that). The current crisis emerged because they were no longer able to hide the fact that the country is insolvent.
At the current point, I think it's too late to save the Greek economy anyway. The best options we have are either a) the EU guarantees a large part of our debt (like 50% or so, via something like eurobonds that basically amounts to a bailout) or b) we default and leave the eurozone to rebuild the economy from the start.