Despite the approval of the £7.4 billion bail-out loan from the European Commission, Greece’s economy remains in a state of disarray.
According to a report by HSBC the country’s banks have seen a drastic and swift decline in deposits and output contracts.
Earlier in the year it was specuated that wealthy Greeks would take their money and flee, something that is no doubt contributing to the dwindle, however the decline also points to the general public and businesses running down their savings simply to get by.
Financial Analyst Joanna Telioudi said: “The Greek market has never, since the first data in 2001, experienced such attrition,” and the Athens Chamber of Commerce said that the nation was in “dire straits.”
Financial commentators fear that the EU/IMF loan may not be enough to quell the disintegration of this European economy: “The markets suspect that Greece will have to restructure its debt sooner or later, and bondholders will be the losers. They don't believe that Greece's euro membership on present terms is economically viable. The country doesn't have the freedom it needs to get out of this crisis,” said Stephen Lewis of Monument Securities.
An even gloomier forecast was predicted by Spiegel magazine: “The entire country is in the grip of a depression. Everything seems to be going downhill. The spiral is continuing unabated and there is no clear way out.”