Just over ten years ago back in 2001 Greece joined the EMU or economic and monetary union. Despite having major debt problems Greece was able to meet the requirements because its government withheld details about the extent of the country’s debt issues. Once Greece was made a member the government were able to and so did borrow extensive amounts of money which only made their debt problems much worse.
Greece was already suffering from horrendous problems with debt because of its poor infrastructure. This meant that the money being borrowed couldn’t be paid back and was being spent far too quickly on a generous welfare system, high public sector salaries and an early retirement age. All of this overspending was also made much worse by the increasing problem of tax evasion throughout the country.
In 2009 George Papandreou became the Prime Minister of Greece but upon taking the job he was not aware of the crisis he was about to face. Greece had not been upfront about the scale of its debts and the country’s debt problems were actually much worse than they initially appeared. Only two months after Papandreou became Prime Minister Greece’s credit rating was downgraded meaning other countries would not allow them to borrow money as easily or cheaply.
Following this everyone was aware of the extent of the problem in Greece and how the government had withheld details. This led to less trust in Greece from other countries and also investors. It was very likely that Greece would eventually default and its economy would crash and so investors in the country were able to demand a much higher yield on bonds.
The debt problems which Greece has could also become a problem for many other countries if they aren’t resolved. With many other European countries having money invested in Greece a full crash of the economy and financial system could lead to similar events in the UK, France and Germany. To prevent this from happening Greece has been handed a bailout package to help the economy recover.