The government of Venizelos (1928-32) inherited from the preceding Ecumenical government a policy aimed at the economic reconstruction of the country, planned in co-operation with the League of Nations. In the two fundamental problems facing the country - securing employment for the refugees and reducing the trade deficit - a complex series of measures involving state intervention was suggested. However, the programme of works on infrastructure (drainage and land reclamation, road construction etc.), confined mainly to northern Greece, was checked due to the consequences of the economic crisis of 1929.
The insistence of the experienced politician on preserving the value of the drachma - despite the unfavourable economic portents - proved problematic and undermined his modernizing vision, which in turn encouraged unbridled speculation. The immediate and at the same time radical measures can be summarized as follows: raising the value of the drachma, suspension of repayments on the public debt, reorganization of tariffs and inauguration of the method of international trade exchanges through setting off in kind (clearing).
Such innovative regulations constituted a means of protecting the Greek economy against the development of the crisis. The application of dynamic but often unpopular measures firmly placed the country on the road to self-sufficiency and self-reliant development, organized on a rational basis.