The monetary crisis in Greece in 1879 was the result of domestic conditions and directly affected the country's economy. As a consequence it had the deterioration of the living standard of the economically weaker sections of the population, social unrest with the outbreak of strikes, such as the Syros strike of 1879, and political instability. Transactions in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

at that time were mainly conducted in foreign currency (

Ottoman lira The pound or lira (sign: LT; ; ; ; ; ) was the currency of the Ottoman Empire from 1844 until 1927, when it was replaced by the Turkish lira. Although the Ottoman Empire was abolished in 1922, the Ottoman lira remained in circulation until the ...

Russian ruble The ruble or rouble (; Currency symbol, symbol: ₽; ISO 4217, ISO code: RUB) is the currency of the Russia, Russian Federation. Banknotes and coins are issued by the Central Bank of Russia, which is Russia's central bank, monetary authority ind ...

), while the

drachma Drachma may refer to: * Ancient drachma, an ancient Greek currency * Modern drachma The drachma ( ) was the official currency of modern Greece from 1832 until the launch of the euro in 2001. First modern drachma The drachma was reintroduce ...

, where it was used, had been overvalued by 18%. However, the banks and the state ignored the overvaluation and operated on the basis of the actual (commercial) value of the coins. In February 1879 there was a devaluation in the market value of foreign currencies which reached 27%, lowering the equivalent of daily wages to the same percentage, while on the other hand the market continued to operate based on the real value of money. The purchasing power of the average population thus decreased, to a rate approaching 50%.

References

{{reflist Economic history of Greece 1879 in Greece Economic crises in Europe 1879 in economic history