  Fiscal policy was pro-cyclical throughout the period 2001 through 2009, with deficits consistently exceeding the Stability Pact’s limit of 3 per cent by wide margins and no durable progress in lowering the public debt-to-GDP ratio.
  Expansionary fiscal policy was mainly expenditure-driven, leading to a rise in the share of government spending; in the three years, 2006 to 2009, the share of government spending increased from 43 per cent of GDP to 50 per cent.   Although inflation in Greece during 2001 through 2009 was low by the country’s historical standards, inflation was relatively-high by euro-area standards.