Why the worst of the crisis has passed

ON EUROPE

It is almost three years since the current eurozone financial crisis erupted. Greece's newly elected government had no choice but to inform its European partners that the risk of default was high and imminent.

The ensuing events had undoubtedly been exacerbated by a deepening paralysis within the global banking system. This had the additional undesirable effect of dragging almost all southern European countries into the fray. A vicious circle had been formed leading to a potential feeding frenzy among market participants. The economic solutions and requirements from the ECB have always been well understood. The overwhelming desire by the investment community was for implementation for some form of bond buying programme by the ECB. Efforts by ECB governor Mario Draghi in recent months have b...