After the Olympics
Greece is suffering withdrawal after the elation of staging the biggest sporting event in its modern history this summer. "We have the post-Olympic blues," Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis said this week.
Yet, curiously, for someone in his declared condition, Alogoskoufis cannot stop smiling.
"Now, we have to tackle the economic consequences of the Olympics, both good and bad," he said in an interview Monday after addressing the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund over the weekend.
The meeting of construction deadlines and the successful staging of the Games, with all their security measures, boosted the national pride of the Greeks, he said. In the months leading up to the opening ceremonies, his countrymen had to listen to predictions of unfinished venues, chaos and confusion.
The infrastructure put in place for the Olympics will help the country expand tourism and the services industry, attracting more conferences and sporting events to Athens, he said.
But there is also, he said, the whopping bill of 7 billion euros, about $8.6 billion. "The installation of security equipment and setups was a major expense, not originally budgeted when Greece took on the project," Alogoskoufis said.
The government's budget deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product grew from 4.6 percent in 2003 to an estimated 5.3 percent this year. The target is to bring it down to 2.8 percent in 2005.
To do that, expenditures will have to be cut and wage and salary increases will be kept at just above inflation. "We are kind of sobering up now," Alogoskoufis noted.
