Preview

Greece Market Line

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
31449 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Greece Market Line
Country Profile Series

Greece
In-depth PESTLE insights

PESTLE Country Analysis Report: Greece © MarketLine. This report is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied PUBLICATION DATE: January 2012
REFERENCE CODE: ML00002-038 WWW.MARKETLINE.COM
MARKETLINE. THIS PROFILE IS A LICENSED PRODUCT AND IS NOT TO BE PHOTOCOPIED

ML00002-038/Published 01/2012 Page 1

OVERVIEW
Catalyst
This profile analyzes the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental (PESTLE) structure in Greece. Each of the PESTLE factors is explored in terms of four parameters: current strengths, current challenges, future prospects, and future risks.

Summary
Key findings EU membership provides the needed support to tide over the crisis, however, the sovereign debt crisis is a serious challenge EU membership has proved immensely beneficial for the country even as it struggles with a huge debt burden. Economically stronger EU members such as Germany and France have extended financial support to prevent Greece from defaulting on its debt obligations. Moreover, the economic and political prowess of the EU and the IMF has been leveraged to induce private investors to accept write-downs on loans to the government, thus reducing the government’s debt obligations by 50%. In addition, EU support prevents Greece from isolation in the international arena, which is vital given the current internal discord between the country's government and its public. However, the Greek polity has suffered a serious setback owing to the sovereign debt crisis. The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) government was forced to dissolve and concede policy failure, and a new coalition government was put in place. As the debt situation worsened, PASOK – which came into power in 2009 – was crippled by internal discord and opposition from rival parties and the public at large; as a result, its efforts to tackle the crisis were largely piecemeal and unsuccessful. With the new coalition

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    finc415 hw greece

    • 2173 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Greece is not doing well. Some people want to continue using the euro which a currency provided by the European Central Bank while others want to return to the drachma. The drachma is the fiat currency previously issued by the Greek central bank. This is causing a major uproar in Greece. Politically they are also crumbling. The leaders are persistent with rejecting economic policies that would keep Greece in the euro zone. These leaders are doing nothing to actually help the situation. Argentina is also going through a similar struggle financially. It has defaulted on its debt. With a low credit rating, there was no way this country could continue to operate and Greece…

    • 2173 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    European Union

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Although they tried to build harmony among themselves that is essential for them to avoid violence and helps to bond a strong political relation among each other .However , various level of social and economic growth as well as the change in values ,principles and political situation between members are the chief causes of discord among them. The current discord among European union (EU) which is one of the biggest financial and political union ,could be the regional economic combination which has been hindered the free trade of some countries across the EU. By local economic integration in today’s globalization, contracts among countries in a geographic region to attain economic improvements from the free movement of trade and investment among themselves (Hill, 2013). The Eurozone is obviously having a decline, unless a new wave of crisis. The London Financial Times states that, an 11 billion euro has been originated in the program for saving the Greek economy. The publication conditions that before the end of this year, the governments of the European nations which are the central holders of Greek debts want to allot an average half of that amount to the Greek government. Or else…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fin 415

    • 2420 Words
    • 10 Pages

    "Unless you have strong contagion into Spain and Italy, it's unlikely to be really an issue that would undermine the whole euro zone." The Greek impasse, created when voters sick of austerity deprived the two main parties which back the country's international bailout programme of a parliamentary majority, has potentially increased the risk of it having to restructure its debts for a second time.…

    • 2420 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Greece is a mountainous society. Almost 70 to 80 percent of Greece is covered and dominated with mountains. The advantage of the mountains is that they contributed to the preservation of the purity of Greek culture. Because of the mountains, inhabitants of ancient Greek civilization were secluded to their area resulting to rare interactions with other cultures. One bad effect of this geographical feature is that it served as a natural barrier which acted like walls separating different communities. It hindered communication among communities and slowed down the introduction of new ideas and technology. It also obstructed the development of a unified system of government. The Greeks ingenious solution to this problem is to developed the polis or the city-state. The creation of the city-states indicates the start of Greek's classical age because the emergence of the polis started the numerous great achievements of the civilization. It also proved that democratic government works better in smaller states. Every polis has its own government and laws and it helped promote people's participation in political affairs. It also provided protection and security to the inhabitants. Because states are smaller, the demands and needs of the people were easily reflected in the laws and policies that the government established. Another disadvantage of this geographical feature is that only few lands were dedicated to farming. Few small…

    • 1613 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The tremendous mountain ranges made communication outside and inside of Greece hard for the people(“Rise”). The large widespread mountains also made traveling difficult this leading to trouble with trading good. All of these factors lead up to the formation of the Polis otherwise known as city-states (“Rise”). The mountains in Greece formed a compact area capable of fitting a small group of people(“Greece: The Land”). Having multiple of these small settlements each with their own culture caused the ancient civilization of Greece to be un unified(“Greece: The Land”). Having geographical divisions made having politics hard due to the fact that the people in the different divisions all had different points of view(“Greece: The Land”). A )majority of Greece's was mountainous nearly three quarters leaving around one fifth of its land capable of being cultivated(Levi 13). Cultivating the land was problematic due to the fact that that prime soil and farmable areas were…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Neoliberalism

    • 1442 Words
    • 6 Pages

    But just as under 19th century liberalism the market is not a system sufficient to organize an economy so as to guarantee human livelihood. Modern nation-states have not developed the institutions necessary to regulate and manage fictitious commodities and offer social protection (Wjuniski & Fernandez, 2010, p. 436). This is because unlike the early 20th century there is no political consensus on economic regulation, all elites are either explicitly on implicitly neoliberal (Featherstone, et al., 2015 p. 3). The construction of the Eurozone belies this difference while claiming to be a union delivering joint prosperity it has no democratic accountability and cannot be pressured by a traditional counter-movement from below. Previous ages of credit money, such as those that produced the international banking crisis of 2008, were accompanied by institutions that offered aid to debtors (usually religious in character) presently those international institutions, the World Bank, IMF, and ECB operate in reverse pursuing only the interest of lenders (Graeber, 2014, p. 369). This class of lenders who actually produced the crisis recreate it discursively as a sovereign debt crisis, as opposed to a banking crises, in order to promote their own interest (Featherstone, et al., 2015 p. 6). In Greece this portrayal of the crises has allowed implementation of austerity (Varoufakis, 2013, p. 208). Just as the World Bank used structural adjustments to liberalize the third world economies (Babb, 2005, p. 200) loans from the ECB are conditioned on further marketization and commodification in Greece. The reforms were nearly identical to those imposed in Latin America during the 90’s, sale of land and resources to foreign private…

    • 1442 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    European Debt Crisis

    • 2361 Words
    • 10 Pages

    The “Greek financial crisis” revolves around the fact that the nation has a high level of debt and accompanied by a high probability of default. The story of the Greek financial crisis obviously coincides with the current global economic crisis; however, the events in Greece are unlike the financial events that have plagued the rest of the world. The story is twofold in that the Greek government is to blame for fraud and their poor financial practices, as well as the ECB for enabling such practices by making the cost of borrowing so low due to Germany and other more stable Eurozone nations.…

    • 2361 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    US Commercial Services. (2008). Doing business in Greece: 2008 Country commercial guide for US companies. US Department of Commerce 88-97.…

    • 312 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Greek Food

    • 1607 Words
    • 7 Pages

    There is much, much more to Greek cuisine than the well-known Greek salad. Greek food has a fascinating and delicious history that makes a large use of vegetables, olive oil, cheese, herbs wine, honey, filo pastry, various meats, fish, and much more. While many of the country’s regions and islands are isolated – causing inhabitants to eat what’s nearby – many dishes have become very widespread and exemplify Greek cuisine. Regional variations on dishes are also a large source of local identity. Additionally, Greek food has been heavily influenced not only by Greece’s own history and geography, but by the Ottoman Empire, resulting in arguments regarding the origin of various dishes.…

    • 1607 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Newpaper Article

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The EU and International Monetary Fund delivered two massive bailouts to keep Greece solvent, but Athens is still carrying substantial debt.…

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Hellenic Republic

    • 1183 Words
    • 5 Pages

    There are currently two main parties that dominate Greece’s political system. The political platform of the Pan Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) began in 1974 and emerged with a western flair, was considered disciplined and well organized. The party’s materialized from the military movement against the resistance just a few years…

    • 1183 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Eurozone Crisis

    • 1637 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Eurozone is a combined group of countries using the euro as their only currency. It was created in 1999 and currently consists of 17 countries – not all part of the European Union (Investor Words). Within the Eurozone, the countries follow a monetary policy and controlled by the European Central Bank (in other words, the ECB controlled the supply of the euro within the 17 countries). In an attempt to control government debt levels and deficit spending the Maastricht Treaty was created. As years passed, some countries government deficit began to rise and increased debt levels. By 2010, Greece (3% of the Eurozone) had public debt around 100% of their GDP. In order to lower their debt levels, the Greek government had increased their taxes and their borrowing levels. Solutions for fixing this issue consisted of stronger countries paying off the Greek debt – however not everyone agreed to such methods. Eventually, the value of the euro went down in the exchange markets and other Eurozone countries such as: Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain faced the same problem as Greece. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) donated money to help reduce the amount of debt – however not enough (Krugman, Obstfeld, Melitz, 2011). Since the Eurozone is controlled by monetary rules and does not consist of fiscal union (government collection of tax’s), it has made it harder for countries to recuperate from the crisis. It has been said that this Eurozone crisis is like a currency crisis as they try to preserve the euro from depreciating and losing value. Although, this is an ongoing crisis, there are certain steps the Eurozone can take in order to release the countries from their ongoing debt levels and hopefully reverse the effects on the euro.…

    • 1637 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Greek Debt Crisis

    • 2797 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Over the past few years, Greek’s ability to pay its sovereign debt became a major issue facing economies worldwide. The downgrade of Greek debt to “junk bond” status made Greek default seem inevitable, causing alarm to permeate financial markets worldwide. Unsustainable spending by the Greek government through the creation of a “welfare state” in Greece was a principle cause leading to the Greek debt crisis, which affected even the United States’ economy. High-paying public jobs, excessive pensions, and non-prosecution of severe tax evasion all helped produce the “welfare state” that is present in Greek culture. The default on Greek debt would then have a ripple effect, causing uncertainty in Euro zone markets, and eventually would spread to the rest of the world, including the United States.…

    • 2797 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Athens, The Greek World

    • 1376 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Athens was greatly affected by the Persian Wars and the aftermath of those wars. Significant changes were made to the internal government of Athens. The changes that took place between 500 and 440 BC were part of the democratisation process, but they must also be seen as responses to the Persian Wars and as consequences of the growing imperialism of Athens. It is also important to understand the interrelationship of the democratic changes with the events of the 5th century. The political changes that occurred in this period can rightly be seen as a turning point in history. In the first half of the 5th century, Athens developed from a land power to become the leading maritime state in Greece. At the same time, Athens underwent major political changes that revolutionised and transformed the state from a moderate to a radical democracy. The 'Radical Democracy' came about when Athens became more democratic with the introduction of a system of changes that allowed greater participation from ordinary citizens.…

    • 1376 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Greek Empire

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Greece developed at an alarming rate because of the area and terrain. Greece developed with only one land border. This let them focus on things other than defense. The surrounding area is all ocean giving them humidity and great fishing. The sea acted as a great source of food and resources which drove their economy.…

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays