From the building of a new metro line to buzzing cafes and tavernas and tourists milling around the squares where rioters once clashed with police, Greece’s return from the depths of its economic crisis is impossible to miss in Athens.
The challenge for Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis as he heads into a tight election this weekend is to convince enough Greeks that they aren’t being left behind on that journey from what he calls “old Greece” to the new.
The rebound in the economy has set the nation on track to recover its investment-grade status after 13 years. Gross domestic product is just about where it was when Greece defaulted on its debt in 2010 and it sank by more than a fifth. Unemployment has more than halved from its peak of 28%. Controls to stop the exodus of euros were lifted more than three years ago. Greek stocks and bonds have soared.
