the greek crisis was triggered by the great recession, which led the budget deficits of several western nations to reach or exceed 10% of gdp. greece had high budget deficit (10.2% and 15.1% of gdp in 2008 and 2009, respectively). but at the same time it had high public debt to gdp ratio. greece appeared to lose control of this ratio, which already reached 127% of gdp in 2009. being a member of the eurozone, the country had essentially no autonomous monetary policy flexibility.