The problem of general government debt in PIIGS group countries with the special attention paid to Greece

Commenced by the subprime mortgage crisis in US in August 2007, the global economic crisis led up to the deterioration of public finances in many European countries. The countries which suffered most from it were: Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain, which are jointly referred to as PIIGS group. Despite the fact that it is already 8 years that have passed from the onset of the crisis, the problem is still unresolved and there is the rumour of the critical situation of Greek economy. The aim of this paper is to present the factors which contributed to the critical situation of PIIGS countries as well as to present the scale of the phenomenon and the attempts made to fight that crisis. The special attention was paid to the problem of public debt in Greece.(original abstract)