Despite these low borrowing costs, Greece was consistently unable to meet EU budget deficit targets or to reduce its sizable debt, putting the government’s finances in a very precarious position at the onset of the global financial crisis.
Many date the start of the acute phase of the current problems to the revelation last fall that the Greek government’s deficit for 2009 was likely to be several times larger than previously thought – it is now estimated at near 14 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) – and that its debt would significantly exceed 100 percent of GDP.