Greece today

On my flight to England to try to see mum before she died I read the editorial in the Aegean Airlines in-flight magazine. Because many people had been asking us during our months in England what the current situation is in Greece I thought I'd post a few paragraphs here because the Aegean CEO picks up on it.

It is no secret that Greece is today facing many challenges. As a country and as a society we are only in the beginning of a very punishing process to re-establish our international credibility, our productivity, our belief in our own ability to restart the development path of our country.
The current situation is clearly the most difficult since WW2., and the international image of our country has suffered.
However, especially because we are in this environment, it is more crucial than ever to project both internationally and locally that Greece, its companies, its people can produce products that are globally competitive in quality and efficiency. Especially during this year, where international organisations have been downgrading ratings and expectations for our country, it is crucial to add a small but, I believe, very promising star [this is talking about the Star Alliance of airlines] on the map, where Greece is to show that aviation services to the country are actually upgraded.
The message is clear: new good things are still coming out of Greece, even now, and it may be happening in many more areas than you think; come and visit the country and see for yourselves.

 

The feeling from business is pessimistic - but the vibe on the street is pretty normal. We expected to see changes but food prices appear to be stable (our local gyros are now €1.90 [that's right, about £1.60 for a quality kebab], 10c up on March, and all other prices are about the same apart from petrol which is perhaps 10-15c/l higher).

Anyway, I'm not economically savvy and I gather that there will be a lag in price increases that's linked to fuel price increases, so we'll see. However, unless you listen to the chat radio or read pieces by businessmen, Greece seems the same as it did last year.