Bordering the Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea in southern
Europe,Greece is a country of mostly mountains with ranges extending into the sea as
peninsulas or chains of islands. From wet winters, to hot and dry summers, greece is a
popular tourist destination.
With nearly 4.5 million people in the Athens area, Greece is populated with nearly
10 million people in which a parliamentary democracy exists. 300 people are elected
whom form the parliament which conducts the legislative duties of the government.The
political party collects approximately 151 seats in the parliamental duties of the
administration. The president automatically becomes prime minster and then gets
appointed to become cabinet ministers. The actual ‘president’ is elected by the
parliament for a five year term. The current ‘chief of state’ is President Karolos
Papoulias and the head of government is Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.
As you are aware, Greece’s economy isn’t doing too well lately. Greece has a
capitalist economy which means it has an economic system based on private ownership
of capital. 40 percent of the countries GDP is accounted from a public sector. Tourism
provides fifteen percent, in which we will discuss later. Between 2003 and 2007 the
economy grew nearly four percent per year. This is partially due to the 2004 Olympic
games which also resulted in an increased availability of credit. However, with the 2009
recession due to the world financial crisis, Athens’ credit conditions tightened. Greece
violated the EU’s Growth and Stability Pact which says no more than three percent of
GDP, in which Greece was at six percent in 2011. The economy of Greece kept going
downhill. By April 2010, the credit agencies assigned Greece to be in the lowest
possible credit rating in debt. A loan worth $147 billion was given to the country, so that
it could make debt repayments to creditors. Many doubt that Greece can sustain fiscal
efforts in the face of an economic outlook, public discontent, and political instability.
The Import and Exports of Greece run through the same general countries.
Greece exports food and beverages, manufactured goods, petroleum products,
chemicals and textiles to Italy, Turkey, Germany, Cyprus, Bulgaria, the US, China,
Switzerland, Belgium and Poland which runs approximately to $28.16 billion dollars. On
the other side, Greece imports roughly $66.04 billion dollars worth of machinery,
transport equipment, fuels and chemicals from Germany, Russia, Italy, China, France,
Iran and the Czech Republic. Greece’s land is rich in agriculture consisting of wheat,
corn, barley, sugar beets, olives, tomatoes, wine, tobacco, potatoes, beef and dairy
products.
Greece has many industries including food and tobacco processing, textiles,
chemicals, metal products, mining, petroleum and tourism. Greece attracts more than
17.5 million people per year. Greece and the Greek Islands are one of the favorite
tourism destinations in Europe. Greece is the 15th place in the world rating of tourist
destinations. Greece is popular for its clean beaches and long history. There are
hundreds of archaeological and historical sites to visit that depict the countries past. The
country consists of more than 1,400 islands, however only 169 of them are inhabited.
The islands are the most popular destinations which offer a wonderful place to relax and
have fun. Amongst these islands, Mykonos with its cosmopolitan character, Santorini
with the most romantic sunset in the world, Rhodes, the island of the medieval castles,
sun and butterflies, Crete with its revolutionary spirit, Ios with its wild nightlife and
Samos with the greenest of all the Greek islands. Tourism in greece constitutes a large
part of the Greek economy. Many new jobs have