Backgrounder: Major events in Greek debt crisis

Following are major events that occurred along the timeline of the ongoing debt crisis in Greece:

Oct. 16, 2009: New Prime Minister George Papandreou warned lawmakers their country's finance was in a state of emergency.

Nov. 13, 2009: Greece revealed the country had been in recession during 2009.

Nov. 20, 2009: Greek final budget draft showed the country would cut the deficit to 8.7 percent of GDP in 2010.

Dec. 2009: The world's top credit ratings agencies downgraded Greece's sovereign debts on negative watch.

Dec. 14, 2009: Papandreou outlined sweeping public spending cuts to bring down budget deficit.

Jan. 14, 2010: Greece unveiled a stability program which aimed at cutting budget deficit gap to 2.8 percent of GDP in 2012.

Feb. 3, 2010: The European Commission unveiled an unprecedented system to monitor Greece's implementation of public spending cuts

Feb. 24, 2010: A general strike went on in Greece to protest against the proposed austerity measures.

Feb. 24, 2010: Papandreou warned the country could risk possible bankruptcy unless strict austerity measures are implemented.

March 1, 2010: EU Finance Commissioner Olli Rehn asked the Greek government to announce further austerity measures to tackle its budget deficit crisis.

March 3, 2010: Greece announced its package of austerity measures which include cuts on salaries, freeze on pensions and tax rises to help save the country up to 6.5 billion U.S. dollars.

Source: Xinhua