Open trading account 
Seasonally unadjusted GDP comes in at -4.6% from -5.0% exp giving a sliver good news to the ailing country. Greece also confirmed a primary budget surplus of €2.6bn for the year to July. It’s not all good news though as the figures follow news that Greek unemployment up to 27.6% (record high) in May from 26.0% in April. There’s 1.38m unemployed to 3.62m employed, but there is also 3.32m non-economically active.
According to Spiegel article, Greece will require further aid. The article says that there will be a new loan program due no later than the beginning of 2014 – the Bundesbank expects that there will be a new rescue package for Greece shortly after the election
The market lives for economic data figures and like Spain the data is starting to move in the right direction. The problem is that it’s easy to hit the austerity button and see that play out in figures on paper but that doesn’t mean there is a fundamental improvement on the streets. Massive unemployment is the big issue and it’s greatest at youth level. Last week it was reported that something like 65% of Greece’s unemployed are youngsters.
We’re nearly 5 years and counting from the GFC and that means that there are potentially school leavers, who were 16 years old at the time, approaching 21 and have never worked. You can bet it will be another 5 years before the economy can start supporting jobs growth, but will that mean those 21 year old (who will be 26+) missing out to the new school leavers or the older experienced unemployed workers?