IMF Chief Christine Lagarde Sees Greece 'Reaping Benefits' of Austerity:
What technical analysis and the history of crisis management tells us, is that you're better off doing it [deficit reduction] strong and hard at the beginning in order to reap the benefits of the process
Greece has done a huge and massive effort in cutting expenses, in bringing the deficit down, in turning to primary equilibrium if not surplus now -- which is the good news.
The country is going to turn out better results than what was even planned - but it has to continue doing a massive effort on collection of revenue and collection of tax.
Naturally time will tell. On the other hand, for some of these countries currently undergoing austerity, you really have to wonder whether they'll still be around in their present (democratic) form in a year from now.
[See BBC Video Clip, full interview]
