Last week Standard & Poor’s became the first among the “big three” rating agencies to upgrade Greece to investment grade since the country’s debt crisis. Securing investment grade has been a key target for the Mitsotakis government, and the upgrade was hailed as "a great achievement and a game changer" for Greece. A few days later, in another vote of confidence in Greece, Italy’s UniCredit offered to buy Greece’s stake in Alpha Bank, marking the first investment in a Greek lender by another European bank since before the financial crisis. Alex Patelis, the chief economic adviser to Greece’s Prime Minister, joins Thanos Davelis to discuss the significance of these latest developments for Greece and outline the government’s next goals when it comes to the economy.

You can read the articles we discuss on our podcast here:

S&P raises Greece to investment grade for first time in more than a decade

Greece’s Great Economic Comeback

UniCredit strikes first deal of Andrea Orcel era with Greek tie-up

Bipartisan group targets Turkey over its ties to Hamas

Sarbanes won’t seek re-election to US Congress in 2024