Aug. 24 (NBD) -- The Third Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece expired on Monday, nine years after the start of Greek government-debt crisis.

"The conclusion of the programme is a historic moment for Greece and for the whole of Europe. Greece is regaining its rightful place in the euro area and greater autonomy in economic policy-making," Pierre Moscovici, European commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, said to NBD.

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Greek crisis changes life of Greeks

In 2009, the Greek Depression was triggered by the turmoil of the Great Recession and structural weaknesses in the Greek economy. Next year, the Eurozone countries and the IMF agreed to offer loans to Greece with the request that the country should implement austerity reform. 

The debt crisis and the subsequent series of tightening policies have greatly reduced the income of the Greeks and the total amount of bank deposits has also shrunk dramatically."Total deposits amounted to 40.3 billion euros (47.2 billion U.S. dollars) in Q1.18, of which 38.4 billion euros (45.0 billion U.S. dollars) in Greece. In 2008, total deposits stood at 71.2 billion euros (83.4 billion U.S. dollars) at the Group level and at 55.3 billion euros (64.7 billion U.S. dollars) in Greece," National Bank of Greece told NBD. 

"In 2015, amid a challenging macro backdrop and persisting funding liquidity pressures in Greece on accelerating deposit outflows due to 'Grexit' fears, the Greek banks were led into a 20 day bank holiday following the imposition of capital controls in July 2015, thus avoiding uncontrolled bank runs and a complete collapse of the Greek banking system," noted National Bank of Greece.

The crisis brought a string of troubles to Greek families.

Born and raised in Athens, Anastasios Belesiotis is now studying in Cornell Tech in the United States. His mother served as a principal of a high school and his father worked as a vet in a public sector. 

When asked about the change that he and his family feel after the outbreak of the Greek debt crisis in 2009, the 30-year-old interviewee told NBD that the crisis was not felt immediately. Average people started feeling the crisis in 2010 and 2011 when the first serious salary and pension cuts were introduced. 

"My parents were directly affected as they both worked primarily in the public sector," Belesiotis recalled, "They experienced reductions of at least 30% in their net salaries. Their pensions were also severely reduced. My father as a doctor had to pay two different pension funds but he will end up receiving only one pension." 

"When my mother retired last year, she started getting paid 5-6 months after the retirement (recursively though) and the one-off benefit that retired people receive when they retire was hugely reduced by up to 50 percent. Same will apply to my father," he said.

Under the crisis, a number of graduates are facing the serious job-seeking situation.

"A quite talented friend of mine with degree in media and communications really struggled for years to find a full time job in Radio and TV." Belesiotis noted, "He worked on personal projects and part time jobs in smaller channels until he managed to land a job in a national TV channel this year. This would have been much easier in 2006 for example." 

He also took another example. "Another friend of mine, fellow electrical engineering graduate, after an unsuccessful year job hunt in the energy sector he decided to change completely his career goals and got involved the family-owned clothing shop."

But that is just the picture for the highly skilled workforce occupied in technology, services, finance, consulting, construction etc. The situation for uneducated or unskilled workers is worse, especially for those in the rural areas, noted he. 

On the other hand, tourism is still a key strength of the economy. Some popular and renowned destinations in the country continued to do well despite the crisis, Belesiotis said.

According to a report released by World Travel and Tourism Council, Greece's tourism generated 28.3 billion euros (33.1 billion U.S. dollars) in 2013, accounting for 16.3 percent of the total GDP. In 2028, the income of tourism is forecasted to make up 22.7 percent of the country's GDP.

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Bailout plan unable to improve the real economy

Regarding the implications of the plan to the real economy, Anastasios Belesiotis held that nothing positive really happened except for the rescue of the banks and the ability of the state to continue paying salaries, pensions and its creditors. 

"The bailout plan was not designed to improve the real economy, it was targeted towards saving initially the exposed European banks and to keep Greece from defaulting on its debt. The whole crisis and the bailout plan pushed for reforms that were necessary for the country and had to be done one way or another," commented he.

"Of course housing became much cheaper, both buying and renting, however most of the other products like clothing, groceries etc maintained relatively high prices," Belesiotis said, adding that the effect of the bailout plan on jobs and work conditions was quite bad as many people lost their jobs during the past 8 years and many companies have closed due to the heavy taxation.

Greece has received loans of 288.7 billion euros (338.0 billion U.S. dollars) in total through three economic adjustment programmes since 2010, 256.6 billion euros (300.4 billion U.S. dollars) of which came from European countries and the remaining 32.1 billion euros (37.6 billion U.S. dollars) from IMF.

A spokesman of the European Commission introduced to NBD that a total of 61.9 billion euros (72.5 billion U.S. dollars) in loans have been provided to Greece under the stability support programme on the basis of implementation of a comprehensive and unprecedented reform package. This financing has gone towards helping Greece meet its financing needs, recapitalising its financial sector and helping it to build up a 24 billion euros (28.2 billion U.S. dollars) cash buffer.

How would Greece's future be after the country ends nearly 10 years of bailouts?

Belesiotis predicted the end of the bailout program will not compensate for the 10 years of recession in the economy and a big portion of society will not see immediate improvements in their daily lives. It will take several years before the economy has improved in a level that all social layers can experience it.

There is also a new labor legislation that has not been implemented fully so many people will continue to feel the repercussion of the program long after it is finished, he added.

Data from European Central Bank shows that Greece's unemployment rate has been rising since 2009 and peaked at 27.91 percent in 2013. The figure later went down to 19.5 percent in May this year, which is still 10 percent higher than level for the period before the crisis.

The Commission launched the plan for a “New Start for Jobs and Growth in Greece” in July 2015 to facilitate Greece maximizing its use of EU funds to stabilize its economy and boost jobs, growth and investment, the spokes mentioned above said to NBD.

Belesiotis pointed out the positive change happened in Greece. "During the last 1-2 years things are getting a bit better however, companies are opening up positions and many startups have been created during the last 5 years as people usually have to get creative in crisis and when they cannot find conventional jobs."

There is an emerging startup scene in Athens now with globally successful companies like Blueground, Beat and Workable paving the path of a more promising future, added he.

Email: zhanglingxiao@nbd.com.cn