Greece’s bumpy road to financial respectability

THESE ARESPBB anxious days for Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister. The country is due to welcome tourists from around 35 countries from May 15th, but hotel bookings are looking thin and covid-19 lingers. Unless tourism recovers, the economy will shrink for a second year.There is some good news, though. On April 23rd &, a rating agency, upgraded the country’s sovereign rating to . (That is still below investment grade, which officials expect to reach next year.) The agency also upgraded the country’s four big banks, though all remain in junk territory because of high levels of non-performing loans. These came to about 33% of the banking sector’s loan book, before provisions—the legacy of the debt crisis of 2010-18.