{"id":84401,"date":"2019-05-06T10:13:55","date_gmt":"2019-05-06T08:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/?p=84401"},"modified":"2024-01-16T16:13:17","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T15:13:17","slug":"athens-crisis-and-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/en\/athens-crisis-and-recovery","title":{"rendered":"Athens: crisis and recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Report and photos by Florian Guillemin.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 20 August 2018, the Greece<\/strong> has officially been released from its trusteeship by theEuropean Union<\/strong> after eight years of austerity plans<\/strong>. So, in theory, the Greek economy is back in the black. But only in theory, because from the taxi driver to the small shopkeeper - obviously used to Europeans passing through to ask about their convalescence - the diagnosis is the same: the ratio between wages, taxes and the cost of living is making everyday life very difficult. Incidentally, Athens<\/strong> still bears the scars of the economic downturn, and you regularly come across ruins that are anything but ancient, bearing witness to a wound that is still open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Le Syntagma business district<\/strong> illustrates the situation in Athens, and indeed in Greece as a whole. Take, for example, the Hotel Esperia, a former leading business address, now transformed into an alternative wasteland whose future remains uncertain. A few metres away are the Greek central bank and stock exchange, whose cold, massive buildings seem to have lost their memory. Nevertheless, this urban landscape has been turned upside down, and the economic balance is still very precarious, giving rise to opportunities that are being seized by foreign companies, as well as by some of the local fortunes that have escaped the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, the foreign direct investment<\/strong> (FDI) even grew by more than 30 %, exceeding four billion dollars and returning to pre-2008 levels. Taking advantage of the return of business travellers<\/strong>the major hotel chains<\/strong> return to Athens<\/a>The city's major projects are back on track. The symbol of the Athenian renaissance was inaugurated in 2016, in the south-west of the capital. Visit Stavros Niarchos Foundation cultural centre<\/strong>signed Renzo Piano<\/strong>The Opera House and the National Library come together in a major architectural totem. After all, to revive the belief and growth machine, why not bank on the Athenian fundamentals?<\/p>\n\n\n\n