Greece’s economy in numbers

Consumer price inflation

Euro area: 3.8%. Highest reading for Greece since 2001: 12.1% (September 2022).

Austrian lensThe index measures the consequence. For the Austrian School, inflation is the increase in the quantity of money; prices rise afterwards, and not all together.

For your own amount, see the tool “What has your euro lost?”.

Source: Eurostat: prc_hicp_minr

Growth of money (euro area)

M1: 2.7%.

Austrian lensThis is closer to inflation in the Austrian sense: how much more money there is than a year before.

Source: ECB: BSI.M.U2.Y.V.M30.X.I.U2.2300.Z01.A · ECB: BSI.M.U2.Y.V.M10.X.I.U2.2300.Z01.A

The quantity of money (euro area)

M1: €11.33 trillion. M3 is 4.0 times its level of January 1999; the series follows the composition of the euro area, which has grown in the meantime.

Austrian lensNew money does not reach everyone at once: those who get it first buy before prices rise, while those who get it last are already paying the higher prices. This is the Cantillon effect.

In the timeline: 2001, the euro

Source: ECB: BSI.M.U2.Y.V.M30.X.1.U2.2300.Z01.E · ECB: BSI.M.U2.Y.V.M10.X.1.U2.2300.Z01.E

The Eurosystem balance sheet

Peak: €8.84 trillion (24 June 2022). At the start of 1999: €0.69 trillion.

Austrian lensThe central bank pays for what it buys or lends with money it creates itself; that is why the size of its balance sheet is a measure of monetary expansion.

Source: ECB: ILM.W.U2.C.T000000.Z5.Z01

The ECB’s key interest rates

Main refinancing operations: 2.65% · marginal lending facility: 2.90%. In force on 31 October 2026.

Austrian lensInterest is the price of time, which on a free market arises from people’s time preference. Here it is set by the ECB’s Governing Council.

Commentary: “The ECB: When a Committee Sets the Price of Time” · In the timeline: 2014

Source: ECB: FM.D.U2.EUR.4F.KR.DFR.LEV · ECB: FM.D.U2.EUR.4F.KR.MRR_FR.LEV · ECB: FM.D.U2.EUR.4F.KR.MRR_MBR.LEV · ECB: FM.D.U2.EUR.4F.KR.MLFR.LEV

Greek 10-year government bond yield

Peak: 29.24% (February 2012, monthly average).

Austrian lensThe yield is the price lenders ask for waiting and for the risk of not being repaid; in 2012, with the PSI, that risk came true.

In the timeline: 2010–2012

Source: ECB: IRS.M.GR.L.L40.CI.0000.EUR.N.Z

Deposits with banks in Greece

Peak: €244.2 billion (December 2009) · lowest after 2009: €125.9 billion (July 2015).

Deposits of households, firms and other non-bank holders in the euro area (excluding central government) with banks in Greece, all currencies, not seasonally adjusted. The “Greek contribution” to euro-area M1 and M3 is not available in the ECB’s public API, so we show deposits, from the same statistics.

Austrian lensTo the depositor a deposit is money; the bank, however, keeps only a fraction of it on hand. When many ask for their money at once, as in 2015, the doors close.

“The Federal Reserve and Fractional Reserve Banking” — Murray N. Rothbard, For a New Liberty · In the timeline: 2015

Source: ECB: BSI.M.GR.N.A.L20.A.1.U2.2300.Z01.E

General government gross debt

In euros: €358.6 billion. Peak: 212.9% of GDP (Q1 2021).

Austrian lensGovernment debt is a claim on future taxes; whatever is not paid with taxes is paid with inflation or with default.

“Appendix A Government Borrowing” — Murray N. Rothbard, Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market · In the timeline: 2010–2012

Source: Eurostat: gov_10q_ggdebt