Greece still imports EUR 3 for every EUR 1 it exports

As John Mauldin (http://www.frontlinethoughts.com/) thankfully points out in his latest newsletter Greece still imports three times (!) as much as it exports. No surprise here as the Euro does not allow them to regain competitiveness by devaluation. Germany benefits from a weak Euro, but Greece’s trading partners are mostly inside the EUR block. An average monthly trade deficit of EUR 2.5bn adds up to 30bn a year. This amounts to almost 10% of this year’s GDP; a gap that needs to be financed.

It is self-evident the EU & IMF bail-out won’t change anything in this respect. Only an exit from the Euro would help.

Part of the imports seem to be purchases by the defense department, such as German-built navy ships. Those 6,000 islands surely need to be protected.

Greek monthly imports. Source: TradingEconomics.com

Greek GDP. Source: TradingEconomics.com