The rate of real GDP growth on a fiscal-year basis is likely to be around 0 percent in fiscal 2008 and around 0.5 percent in fiscal 2009, and the growth rate for fiscal 2010 is expected to be around the potential growth rate.
But the negotiations on an EU/IMF programme, which had started in June 2012, had dragged on until the situation of the banking sector had become critical, and the solvency of the two largest banks came under much closer scrutiny.