Greek government-debt crisis timeline

The income of many Greeks has declined, levels of unemployment have increased, elections and resignations of politicians have altered the country's political landscape radically, the Greek parliament has passed many austerity bills, and protests have become common sights throughout the country.

Widespread investments in industrial enterprises and heavy infrastructure, as well as funds from the European Union and growing revenues from tourism, shipping and a fast-growing service sector raised the country's standard of living to unprecedented levels.

[1] The Greek government, encouraged by the European Commission, European Central Bank, private banking institutions, and the Greek business community also took out loans to pay Greek and foreign infrastructure companies for a wide variety of infrastructure projects such as those related to the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens.

[3] As the Financial crisis of 2007–08 began to affect Greece's economy, the country's GDP stagnated between 2008 and 2010 and the government's capacity to repay its creditors was drastically reduced.

On June 21, 2018, Greece's creditors agreed on a 10-year extension of maturities on 96.6 billion euros of loans (i.e., almost a third of Greece's total debt), as well as a 10-year grace period in interest and amortization payments on the same loans.