08 Sep 2011

Can Greece ‘grow solvent’?

Daniel Gros / Thomas Barnebeck Andersen / Mikkel Barslund

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With the completion of the latest rescue package for Greece – which relieved the country of short-term liquidity problems and eased the borrowing terms, but which made only a small dent in the overall debt burden – this Commentary explores the question whether Greece can now ’grow solvent’? The prognosis is not encouraging: given the country’s unfavourable demographic prospects and the small size of its tradable sector, Greece will face a huge task in growing out of its debt burden.
Daniel Gros is Director of Centre for European Policy Studies, Thomas Barnebeck Andersen is Professor in the Department of Business and Economics at the University of Southern Denmark and Mikkel Barslund is a Research Fellow at CEPS.