PM Tsipras set to promise that Greek upturn is near

PanARMENIAN.Net - He came to power vowing a debt revolution, but after a rollercoaster year of economic meltdown forcing him to abandon his election promises, a less bouncy but still charismatic Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is facing the music, AFP reports.

His leftist government has been whittled down to a parliamentary majority of three, his popular appeal is slipping, and Greece's international creditors do not seem to share his urgency for a debt deal to jumpstart the country's recovery. On Monday, January 25, Greece will mark a year under the first leftist government in its history.

A day earlier, Tsipras will address his party in a celebratory speech, promising that the upturn is just around the corner.

"I believe 2016 will be the year that Greece will surprise the world economic community," Tsipras told Bloomberg TV in Davos this week.

"I'm confident that all our partners want a successful and timely concluded review because they can understand that time is part of our strategy," he said.

"If we manage to do it the sooner we'll leave the vicious circle and come back to growth soon."

Tsipras was elected in January 2015 after persuading Greeks that they no longer had to grovel to foreign powers for their economic survival.

He argued that debt-hit Greece would never recover if it continued to be tied to international bailouts focused on spending cuts and tax hikes. He promised to aggressively broker a new economic deal.