Greek woes focus attention on role of Eurostat

Politicians are aghast that Greece used cross-currency swaps with Goldman Sachs in 2001 to reduce its debt by several billion euros without disclosing it, but bankers and other observers are calling for more scrutiny of the part played by a third actor in the story: Eurostat, the Luxembourg-based agency responsible for member states’ economic and fiscal reports.

In 2008, the agency changed its rules to ensure Greek-style swaps would show up in the national debt, but it was acting 13 years after