There is cautious optimism that Greece's economy will return to growth in 2017, though much could happen over the next 12 months to quell these hopes. However, as Stefanie Linhardt reports, great importance is being attached to the country being given access to the ECB's quantitative easing programme.
There is a real chance that the Greek economy could recover significantly in 2016 following the successful recapitalisation of its main banks late last year, but first the country must take some important steps, not least regaining the trust of foreign investors, according to John (Iannis) Mourmouras, the senior deputy governor of the Bank of Greece.
The formation of a European banking union should have helped ease Greece's economic woes, but far from putting European banks on an even footing, the so-called union left Greece out in the cold, writes former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.
The turmoil in Greece is having an impact on financial markets throughout the eurozone, but this impact may be felt greater in its five neighbours where Greek banks have a particularly large presence: Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania and Serbia.
The stand-off between Greece and the rest of the eurozone over the terms of the country’s bail-out raises uncertainty over local banks’ funding ability. With a troubling combination of low deposits and likely shortfalls in European Central Bank funding,The Banker looks at how they might cope.