This is called monetising the deficit or printing money to meet the deficit. The end result was inflationary. The government is committed to further privatisations. Future sales include Olympic Catering, a third tranche of Hellenic Communications, Athens Water Supply, Corinth Canal, Hellenic Electricity and several other entities. The road to economic convergence and the EMU for the Greek economy is not free of risks.
Public debt remains a constraint on the economy.
The costs of meeting interest payments are a constraint on the budget. The increase has been the result of developments in Russia. In the event that emerging markets such as Russia, South Korea and other Asian economies have a greater amount of risk attached to them then there is a reasonable chance that this will be felt in Greece through higher interest rates. The union movement has little scope of altering economic policy direction given that the Socialist Government and the conservative New Democracy opposition have similar policies on the privatisation of government business enterprises and the need to enter the European Monetary Union. The Simitis government cannot compromise or dilute its stand on the privatisation of government enterprises or not introduce labour market reform.