Eurozone hopes PIIGS may fly

Not all economists are saluting the Germans, however, nor are they all overly impressed by the latest rosy assessment of the bloc’s performance. Simon Tilford of the Centre for European Reform said the austerity program made matters worse in Greece, and that country has still not really rebounded.

“It’s gone through the biggest peacetime slump of any developed economy ever, and it’s yet to bounce back in any meaningful way,” he said.  

Tilford argues that the recent Greek bond sale was a success only because the bonds carried a very high rate of interest. And he’s rather dismissive of the overall improvement in the eurozone.

“It’s very weak given the scale of the preceding slump. The eurozone economy is still only a little bit bigger than it was before the 2007 crisis. There’s a long, long way to go before people can start talking about recovery.”