It’s more bad news for the conservative government on the economic front. The increase in the country’s current account deficit is not directly related to the international economic crisis.

Rather, it is closely related to the structural shortcomings that have continued to plague the domestic economy in recent years.

The fact that Greece has been constantly importing more than it exports indicates that the productivity of the Greek economy is on the wane.

Competitiveness is also sliding.

What all of this means is that on top of the short-term measures aimed at dealing with the effects of the global credit crunch, the conservative administration of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis must also introduce a long-term strategy designed to remedy the chronic weaknesses of the local economy.

In other words, we need measures that will help cut down the deficit and public debt, because the two have slammed the brakes on development.

The government must work on and present a reform program without further delay.