Cilvēki gaida Atēnās, kad atvērsies Grieķijas Nacionālās bankas durvis. Foto: AFP/LETA
My experience with foreign journalists is, in short, the following: Prior to 2008 they came to hear about the extraordinary boom, 2009 - 2010 they came to hear about the extraordinary bust, then about the recovery, then euro introduction and the fifth and current wave of journalists wants to hear about Latvian lessons for Greece.
I have to tell them that there is nothing much Greece can learn, unless it were able to turn back the clock several years. Rather, it is Latvia that can learn a bit from Greece.
In the following I deal with ten differences or similarities between Latvia and Greece. It may not be an exhaustive list but all items should be relevant. I could also have added more discussion but this is a blog/column, not an article. In short, I have chosen to let the data speak with myself adding a few comments. Most graphs start in 2002 - the year when Greece entered the Eurozone and when the boom had gotten underway in Latvia. I put this analysis into three parts, mostly to adhere to the idea that a blog should not be too long. This part I (on GDP and unemployment) will thus be followed by a part II (mostly on fiscal policy) and a part III (other indicators and overall conclusions).
