Editorial Ta Nea: Bombshells

Greece has slipped from the 57^th to the 58^th place among a total of 63 countries analysed in the IMD World Competitiveness Rankings, placing it behind Jordan, Peru, and Colombia.

Equally disappointing, despite slight improvements, are the country’s indices in economic efficiency (60^th out of 63 countries, rising one place from 61^st place) and government efficiency (60^th from 61^st).

Greece rose by one place (58^th in the report issued in 2019 compared to 59^th the previous year.

More ominously, there was a drop from the 40^th to 41^st place in the infrastructure category (public investment has plunged).

This horrible performance reconfirms that there are serious problems with Greece’s productive model and that growth will be impossible without adhering to timely and deep reforms.

That must be the country’s basic objective. One must not lose sight of that or aim or be dragged along by fleeting illusions about the Greek economy having turned a page.

One also must not lose sight of that if one wishes to put an end to the crisis that has bedeviled the economy and society over the last decade and prevent it from becoming permanent.

Greece has enormous capabilities. Unfortunately they are not being exploited and the results are tragic, as evidenced in the brain drain and the shrinking of the population.

These two socio-political time bombs will not be defused if the country remains stuck in the mentalities and practices that have kept it down and trapped.

That is something that must be acknowledged and remedied by entire political system and not just the government.