PM Tsipras declares end of ‘modern-day Odyssey,’ sees better days for post-bailout Greece

The Greek prime minister headed to the island of Ithaca on Tuesday in a gesture laden with classical symbolism as the country emerged from nine years of crisis and international financial bailouts. “Ithaca will once again be identified with the end of a modern-day Odyssey [that was] very difficult for the Greek people,” Alexis Tsipras said after arriving on the island. The country had good reason to expect better days ahead after formally exiting its last financial bailout. “The bailouts of recession, austerity, recession and social desertification are finally over,” Tsipras said. The €288 billion ($330 billion) Greece has borrowed is the largest bailout in history, saddling the country with debt the equivalent of 180 percent of its annual economic output. In the coming years, Greece will have to maintain primary budget surpluses – excluding debt repayments – and further cuts in pensions may be made in 2019, Reuters said.