Athenian ruins

The mess made of Greece must never be repeated

Last week the IMF admitted it had been too sanguine about the devastation austerity would wreak on Greece and that some of the measures forced on Athens in return for its emergency loans had been wrong8230; Looking at the first of the three austerity packages the IMF and Europe imposed on Greece,the report admits that the troikas optimism over how the economy would react to austerity was disastrously wrong8230; Amid epochal crisis,Greeks wouldnt have avoided economic and social dislocation but the policies thrust on them heightened the suffering. The troika underestimated the impact that cuts and tax rises would have on the economy; it failed to foresee the consequent collapse in business confidence,and the further ruination of the loans extended by Greek banks.