Greece hammers down public debt by 32 per cent

Cairo, Egypt: Greece, the bad boy of government profligacy, appears to have done an impressive job in managing its public expenses and debt. Compelled to adopt austerity measures, a top ranking official said Monday, the government had succeeded in slashing public debt by as much as 32 per cent, as of August.

''Public expenditures have been cut by 50 per cent, and the public debt has been cut by 32.2 per cent by the end of August,'' said Chris Lazaris, the Greek ambassador to Cairo.

''In terms of real economic activity, internal consumption has been cut fiercely, retail services have been hit very hard, and living standards have regressed to 1990 levels,'' he informed a media gathering here.

Expectedly, attempts by the government to restructure its debt and public expenses stoked public anger and sparked widespread protests.

Making some perceptive observations, Lazaris said the root cause of Greece's sovereign debt crisis was the easy availability of cheap international credit which European governments exploited fully to boost public spending.

By the end of 2009, Lazaris said ''...we hit a wall: we had accumulated so much debt that we couldn't manage it ourselves.''