Greece’s main opposition leftist party Syriza has taken the lead in polls for the next scheduled election due to take place in June 2016. The Syriza party, which is the main opposition party to the Prime Minister’s conservative party, has opposed the harsh economic austerity measures which were put into place following the onset of its economic crises in 2011 and like other outsider parties across the EU, has become the national anti austerity party.
In a new poll which was recently released has showed the Syriza party with 26% of the vote, while the New Democracy party comes in second with 22.2, and the far right Golden Dawn party coming in third with 6.2%. The new polling information shows the widespread discontent with which Greece’s population has with the harsh austerity measures which have crippled the social welfare programs throughout the country since the start of the economic crises in 2011.
Despite the country’s tough economic circumstances they are currently in, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras recently told German chancellor Angela Merkel that “We need to become a normal country, and we’ve proven that that we are reliable and we can stand on our own feet.”
Over the course of the economic crisis Greece has received two international bailouts which were supposed to help in its recovery. Both of the bailouts totaled out to 240 billion Euros.
However despite all of the optimism in Greece, Standard and Poor’s ( aka S&P) which is the international ratings’ agency, has recently downgraded Greece’s economy to an emerging market, which could have a negative impact on the country’s recovery.
“I believe this cooperation will be completed ahead of schedule”, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was quoted as saying in a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on September 23rd in Berlin. The Prime Minister went onto say “I believe that we can certainly cover our funding needs from next year. We will see what happens with the next bailout tranches.” Greece’s economy has contracted 25% since the beginning of the crisis.
Greece’s current debt to GDP ratio in real time is 144.74%. While Greece’s external debt to GDP ratio is at 287.67%.
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