Greece’s Big Challenge: Fix Bad Loans Without Destroying Banks
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An arcade in central Athens where most shops closed since the beginning of the Greek financial crisis.CreditAngelos Tzortzinis for The New York Times
ATHENS — Apostolis Paliouras was proud of the bookstore he ran on the ground floor of an apartment building in a middle-class neighborhood here. Greek authors came to give readings and sign their works. People gathered to debate matters literary and political.
But his sales plummeted in 2011 after the Greek government, bowing to demands from its international creditors, imposed a new property tax and added it to utility bills in an attempt to stem the country’s notorious tax evasion. People who did not pay risked having their power shut off. The tax crackdown crippled consumer spending…
Greece’s Big Challenge: Fix Bad Loans Without Destroying Banks
