After Greece adopted the euro in 2001, low interest rates fuelled rapid credit growth, high economic growth and rising incomes, but they also distorted risk assessments and lead to a severe deterioration of the fiscal position, largely reflecting rising spending. Wages rose beyond productivity, gradually but persistently weakening competitiveness, undermining exports and expanding the trade deficit (). The private sector operated behind complex barriers, fostering informality, oligopolies and inefficiencies. In the fall of 2009, the sharp increase in the budget deficit led to soaring interest rates, loss of access to international capital markets, and economic adjustment programmes with the EU, ECB and IMF.