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George Tsopelas, Managing Director of the Greek branch of the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company, spoke about the emotionally charged and financially difficult period due to the two parliamentary votes in less than 45 days. He urged not to ignore and underestimate what Greece has achieved since the beginning of the crisis. It is the huge deficit reduction from 15.5% in 2009 to 7.3 in 2012 and in terms of an economy declining by 7% per year as well as the recovery of one third of the index of competitiveness lost during the ten years in the euro area.
    "And this has been achieved mainly by reducing costs. This paradigm of reform is already exhausted and we need to find a new model that will boost the economy rather than making it shrink. So far, only 15% of the bailout funds have been spent for the real economy. The remaining payments have been made to external and domestic creditors," he recalled. According to the estimates of McKinsey & Company, consumption has decreased by 7 billion and investments by 40 billion euro since the beginning of the crisis in Greece.
    "This is not a healthy ratio. Many foreign banks are preparing for "the next day." Multinational companies with many years of successful activities in the country withdrew from the Greek market," George Tsopelas said. That is why, according to him, the formula of the new development model should be found no later than the end of the year. Otherwise, the lack of liquidity will lead to bankruptcy and the poorly operating economy will lead to a large budget deficit. Banks will stop lending and the state will go bankrupt.
    "Investments do not come by themselves, the private sector should be stimulated to make them," George Tsopelas concluded.