In fact, although the government's primary deficit (which does not include interest payments) fell to 1.0 percent of GDP in 2012, down from 10.5 percent in 2009, the GDP has shrunk 20 percent over the same period. Furthermore, the jobless rate continues to rise and has reached an all-time high of 27 percent in February. In particular, youth unemployment rose above 60 percent and is by far the highest youth unemployment rate in the Eurozone. To make things even worst, consumer confidence remains very low and retail sales decreased 16.4 percent over the previous year in January. On the positive side, current account deficit has been decreasing, due to lower imports. More importantly, Greece seems to be regaining international confidence as the 10-year government bonds fell below 11 percent, the lowest level since October 2010, in May of 2013.

The economy contracted in every quarter since Q3 of 2008.  In the last three months of 2012, consumer spending hit its lowest level in over a decade.		Unemployment continues to soar and reached a new all-time high of 27 percent in February.
Business Confidence, although still low, has been improving in the past few months. As such, in March, industrial production contracted 0.7 percent, the smallest contraction in 5 months.		In May, Greece 10-year government bond yield dropped below 11 percent and is significantly below the peak of 39 percent in February of 2012.