Greek debt on rise despite austerities

The “Memorandum of Understanding” signed last year between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Greek government has failed to recover the country's faltering economy, Australian weekly Green Left reported on Sunday.

IMF austerity measures have pushed the Greek unemployment rate to a record high of 16%, leaving 787,000 people without jobs.

Meanwhile, the government plans to ink a new memorandum with the “troika” of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the IMF, a move that is expected to leave further burdens on the people.

Under the new memorandum, an unprecedented privatization program has been envisaged which is expected to prompt slashing of employment in the public sector.

Other austerity measures include more tax hikes and further salary and pension cuts.

Earlier on Sunday, hundreds of demonstrators once again gathered in the streets of debt-ridden Greece to protest government plans to cut spending and increase taxes.

Greece received a EUR 110 billion EU-IMF bailout loan last year but did not manage to resolve its massive financial problems. Greece has a debt of over EUR 300 billion.

Since last year, Greece has witnessed massive anti-government protests which turned violent at times and left scores of protesters and security forces dead or injured.

A recent poll published in the Greek daily To Vima reported that Greeks no longer have confidence in their government's ability to pull the country out of their national debt