Fragile coalition in Greece narrowly backs austerity

"The reason why we've seen the economy implode much more rapidly than thought is that they grossly underestimated the impact that fiscal austerity of this magnitude would have on the Greek economy," said Simon Tilford, the chief economist at the CER. "Additional austerity is going to compound that weakness."He added that the slump in the economy was also making it harder for Greece to meet the troika's demands to reduce a mountain of debt. "The whole strategy for Greece has failed," Mr Tilford said. "It's led to collapse in the Greek economy and the ballooning of debt so it’s an abject failure."