10 Ways the Greek Government Screwed Their Economy
3. Manipulated the economic data in order to enter the Eurozone
At the start of the new millenium the country got lucky. Before joining the Eurozone, Greece had very high inflation, as well as high interest rates and government debt. The Greek economy was not fit to be in the Eurozone since its government debt was higher than 60% of the GDP, and its budget deficit was higher than 3%. These figures should have disqualified Greece from entering. However, the decision to accept Greece was political rather than economic. The Greek government cooked the books and manipulated the numbers by artificially lowering the budget deficit and the government debt figures. Once the EU found out about it,it was already too late since the country was already a part of the Eurozone.
