The Athens Stock Exchange managed to reach the counter-performance of recording the lowest result of the past 25 years. According to the online periodical The Guardian, the Greek stock exchange has not recorded such a low level since 1991. It's tragic but also strange at the same time. Over the last 5 years, Greece has benefited from massive financial aid from the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund,and the European Commission. There were over 100 billion euros pumped into the economy, especially in the banking system so as to prevent the collapse -- and still there were no results.
Yesterday was a day of decrease on most stock exchange markets. However, a decrease of 2 percent on other stock exchanges resulted in a decrease of almost 20 percent on the Athens Stock Exchange. It's clear evidence of the unpredictability of Greek shares. Such volatility on capital markets may be fatal.
The Greek economy has been going through a real tragedy for some years. The Greek state has been struggling to get back afloat for over 6 years, but it was all in vain. The crisis that began in 2009 revealed a genuine black hole in the Greek economy: the public debt totalling nearly 200% of the GDP forced the Athens government to seek assistance from the IMF and the ECB. Only that the austerity measures that followed the capital inflow led to even more instability.
Political instability further deepened the crisis in Greece
The changes in the administrative system generated even more uncertainty in the capital markets. The shares of Greek companies and banks as well have suffered most. Yesterday’s example stands as living proof of a series of unwise decisions. The largest Greek banks were faced with decreases of over 20%, and this is only in the past day.
It's actually tragic were we to consider that the Greek bank system received another capital injection of over 14 billion euros just a few months ago.
Highly violent protests have become commonplace on the streets of Athens
Once a city filled with tourists, sun, and joy, Athens nowadays greets the audience with sad images. The confrontations between law enforcement agencies and the citizens who are dissatisfied with the direction their country is heading keep making the headlines of European newspapers.
Given this grim reality, we ask ourselves whether the Athens government will manage to recover. The alternative is catastrophic: the exit from the Eurozone (already foreseen for a while) would isolate Greece, but would also enable the European Unionto get rid of an obstacle.
