German Finance Minister speaks highly of progress in cricis countries

The finance minister of Germany on Saturday spoke highly of the progress made in the crisis countries in euro zone. Wolfgang Schaeuble told the participants at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting here that the most successful countries in the euro zone in the last several years were the program countries. "Because they delivered what they had to deliver," said Schaeuble. Ireland, Portugal were doing well and Spain was doing "extremely well", and Greece did "much better than everyone expected two years ago," Schaeuble went on to explain. In a clear response to criticism about German's trade surplus, Schaeuble said that Germany had started to boost its domestic demand. German economists and analysts have been calling on crisis countries in the euro zone to stick to austerity policies and structural reforms. The president of the European Central Bank (ECB) Mario Draghi insisted that the economic recovery in the euro zone is weak and fragile and fiscal consolidation should be continued.