GREECE exits the last of its three bailouts on August 20 and hopes to be able to borrow again in international markets after a nearly nine-year debt crisis that shrank the economy by a quarter and forced it to implement painful austerity measures, Reuters reports. The crisis has proved deeply traumatic for Greeks, who had enthusiastically swapped drachmas for euros in 2001. Adoption of the single currency ushered in an era of cheap credit that funded a splurge in private consumption and public spending that sent Greece's budget and current deficits ballooning.
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