Economy brings smile back to Greeks

The holiday season has brought cheers back to Greece and the rest of Europe. A country that had been hitting the headlines for six years because of its sky-high public debt and shocking fiscal deficit, which nearly forced the government to go bankrupt, has seen the proverbial light at the end of the dark tunnel. It seems the days of tight fiscal policies, which forced many businesses to close down and rendered many people jobless, and dropping credit ratings are finally over for Greece.

After six agonizing and painful years of recession, the Greek economy is about to bid adieu to negative growth, as the European Commission has forecast that it might grow by 2.9 percent in 2014. Better still, maintaining the pace in 2015, the Greek economy could grow by 3.6 percent in 2016.

Greece's economy had been sliding since 2009 compelling it to revise its ratio of public debt to a shocking level. The country's five depressing annual GDP readings are - 3.1 percent in 2009, - 5.4 percent in 2010, - 8.9 percent in 2011, - 6.6 percent in 2012 and - 3.3 percent in 2013. Some economists say this is unprecedented since the end of World War II.