Banking & Investment

Most Greeks blame government for crisis management: survey

Greece, struggling to get emergency funds to pay a debt that matures next month, called Friday activate a rescue package of 45,000 million (60,500 million) offered by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

The poll by ALCO for the Sunday newspaper Proto Thema showed that 37.3 percent of respondents believed the government moved slowly to address the debt crisis, which has rattled the euro, while 28.2 percent said the government took steps wrong.

According to the survey, done at national level between 21 and 23 April to a sample 1,000 people, only 23.1 percent passed the government”s measures to manage the economy during the crisis, indicating a decrease in confidence.

The survey also showed that 65, two percent thought that the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, deceived people about the true state of the economy. In contrast, 26.1 percent thought Papandreou, elected last October, was unaware of the extent of the problems of the country.

Public Issue Another poll last week showed that only 47 percent of Greeks Papandreou hoped to manage the economy, compared to 55 percent in February.

loan costs to prohibitive levels climbed Greece after that, following October elections, the country which last year unveiled its budget deficit was 12.7 percent of its annual economic output, resulting in a reduction in rank credit.

The statistical office of the EU last week revised deficit of 2009, 13.6 percent of GDP. Debt is projected to increase to Greek 120.4 percent of GDP this year.

Despite the fiscal disaster, the majority of Greeks said they will not get their money out of country or migrate if they get the chance.

(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos, editing by James Dalgleish Spanish)