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Geography
Mainland Greece and its islands in the Mediterranean
and Aegean have a total land area of over
130,000 sq. km, with an economy as yet only
semi-industrialised and a pattern of land
use that strongly reflects a historic dependence
on agriculture (40% pasture, 22% arable and
20% forest land in 1985).
Demography
The 1992 population was estimated at about
10.2 million, over 60% urbanised. The principal
centres are the capital, Athens (with a metropolitan
area population of some 3.1 million) and
Thessaloniki, the economic hub of northern
Greece, with about 975,000 inhabitants. Annual
rates of population growth have declined
throughout the 1980s, standing currently
at about 0.1%.
All Greeks have the right to free education
in the state's educational institutions.
Education is compulsory for nine years, with
six years of elementary and three years of
secondary. Greece has a smaller proportion
of pupils receiving technical education than
other EC countries,. however, progress is
now being made under the European Community
Support Framework.
A survey by the National Statistical Service
indicated a 1991 labour force totalling almost
4.0 million - 25% in agriculture, 19% in
services, 18.5% in industry and 14.3% in
commerce. In recent years, recession has
pushed the unemployment rate to record levels,
with the official estimate for 1992 being
9%. According to the OECD, however, urban
unemployment is in excess of 10%, and rising,
compared with a 35% rate in rural areas.
More worryingly, the rate of unemployment
among school leavers in the age range 20-24
is about 35%.
History and Political Situation
Following the 1967 military coup and the
exile of the Greek Royal Family, Colonel
Giorgios Papadopoulos became Prime Minister
and then President of a new Republic in July
1973. In 1975, a parliamentary democracy
was established following the overthrow of
Papadopoulos and the rejection of a return
to constitutional monarchy.
In 1980 Greece rejoined the NATO alliance
after a 6 year absence, and in 1981 become
a member of the European Community. The elections
of 1981 were won by PASOK (the Socialist
Party), led by Andreas Papandreou, ending
almost half a century of conservative domination
in Greek politics. Pasok's parliamentary
majority was increased in the 1985 elections,
which allowed the Government to bring in
economic austerity measures, restoring some
basis of confidence among investors.
In the June 1989 elections, PASOK found itself
deeply divided over Papandreou's leadership.
A combination of personal and political indiscretions,
as well as allegations of corruption, led
to an inconclusive election outcome, and
to a further general election in November,
1989. Following this November election, Greece's
political leaders agreed to form an all-party
government to rule until April 1990.
In the fresh election in April 1990, New
Democracy secured exactly half the deputies
in parliament. Mitsotakis won the support
of the single member elected from Democratic
Renewal, a party which had splintered from
New Democracy five years earlier, and with
this single seat majority he secured a mandate
to form a government.
Economy
The Greek economy has been characterised
by persistently high rates of inflation and
unemployment, relative to its European partners.
The advantages its products obtained in EC
markets through the early 1980s had little
impact on the deficit in the balance of payments
caused by the country's dependence on imported
petroleum. It was in response to these problems
that Papandreou introduced his 1985 Economic
Stabilisation Programme, combining cuts in
government expenditure, the virtual freezing
of salaries, devaluation of the drachma,
and import restrictions. Over a two-year
period, the programme succeeded in reducing
inflation and narrowing the trade deficit,
but the perceived decline in living standards
led to popular unrest and the programme was
abandoned in December 1987.
The conservative governments of the 1970s
maintained broadly balanced ordinary budgets
but ran deficits when the investment budget
was taken into account. These were contained
in the period 1974-80 at less than 5% of
GDP. Under the PASOK government, however,
the deficits mounted rapidly because of its
redistributive income policy, efforts to
establish a universal pension entitlement
and large subsidies to agriculture and public
sector enterprises. In 1989 the broader public
sector borrowing requirement was over 20%
of GDP.
The lead-up to the June 1989 election saw
a complete reversal of the earlier austerity
policies, as PASOK engaged in large scale
pork-barrelling in an attempt to stay in
power. Greece has paid for this in terms
of a massive increase in the public sector
deficit, rising inflation and a worsening
in the current account.
The New Democracy government moved swiftly
to introduce an economic stabilisation programme.
It introduced a budget for 1990 with medium-term
fiscal targets designed to produce a modest
primary surplus in 1992 and to curb the growth
of public debt. It passed a bill containing
provisions to facilitate privatisation of
state owned industries, to eliminate labour
law rigidities, to allow the sale of up to
49% of public sector enterprises, and to
remove from public sector control major financial
instructions such as commercial banks and
the stock exchange. Implementation has proved
difficult, especially the attempts to increase
revenue by widening the tax net to include
politically sensitive sectors such as agriculture.
Privatisation of poorly run state-owned companies
has also proved to be a hot potato.
The Bank of Greece, to its credit, has maintained
a tight monetary policy with high real interest
rates, rather than letting the currency go
into free-fall.
Privatisation is, however, now starting to
be implemented, with inward capital flows
encouraged by Greece's membership of the
EEC, and the consequent liberalisation and
deregulation for many industries, combined
with guaranteed access to other European
markets. Amidst the recent political turmoil,
private sector confidence has not been as
shaken as in the past - recognising, perhaps,
that politicians' future scope for carrying
out wild economic policies is increasingly
being confined by EEC membership. With improved
economic management gradually being forced
upon Greece, the already dynamic private
sector of the economy should be well positioned
to expand and offer a widening range of possibilities
for the international investor.
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