The government in Athens is expected to approve a broad privatization program, which will include a massive sale of state assets, said Greek newspaper Vima. Some are subject to privatization Organization estimates the results of football matches and betting OTE telecom, the national electricity company Dei, the gas company DEPA Agrarian Bank and the Athens airport “Eleftherios Venizelos. Dramatic decisions expected to be deep in debt to Greek Railways Company DCE, according to Greek newspaper. In this regard, “Vima said that representatives of investment houses, arms dealers, brokers and entrepreneurs are in Athens and true” vultures waiting for government tenders. Han Chinese, Arabs, Libyans, Quatars, Lebanese and other officials inspected the business market to intervene. The Germans also tried to touch their plans and seek to buy the remaining shares in OTE telecom to extend the contract for Athens airport, to strengthen the impact of tour operator TUI Germany, and last but not least – to buy Greek EAR aviation industry to secure access to future supplies of European fighters “Euro-fighters” wrote the Greek newspaper. According to publications in local newspapers, the Greek government expected from privatization this year to enter the treasury at least 2.5 billion.
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The pessimism of investors returned with full force on stock exchanges in Greece and Europe, after fears that Greece will go bankrupt, have increased the yield of ten-year Greek government bond to 7.6 percent. This is a record of the creation of the euro zone 11 years ago. This raised the risk premium and a ten-year Greek government bond to a new highest historical value of 448 basis points. This means that Greece has to pay interest on its bonds by 4.48 percentage points above that which the German government pays on its government bonds. The main measure ASE Greek stock slid 3.1 percent to 1 926 points, after swaps from bankruptcy protection in the country jumped to a record 430 basis points. Greek banks were among the losing stocks, led by the largest representative sector, National Bank of Greece, whose shares fell more than 7 percent. Falling prices of Greek government bonds is problematic for Greek banks because they are an essential tool used by them as collateral for refinancing operations of the European Central Bank. Selling stock exchange index dropped significantly in the Old continent, the common European index Dow Jones Stoxx Europe 600 lost 0.9 percent to 266.28 points. This is the strongest its decline for the past six weeks, but the beginning of this year, he still added 4.9 percent to its value. The index of blue chips in Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.9 percent to 5 712 points despite good news for British industry, which has seen significant growth in February. Were encouraging and the data for the appreciation of homes in March, whose prices are 5% above last year’s levels.
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New protests planned for today Greek unions, the media reported in our southern neighbor. Three-hour strike, which will run from 12 am to 15 pm, convened by the Panhellenic Federation of Workers in the railway sector. During this time he will stop the movement of trains on the railway network in the country, rail and ground in the area of the capital. Another federation of civil servants did convene a meeting to protest against the government adopted stringent measures to savings. The demonstration began at 18 am in front of the University of Athens and it will also involve working in the private sector. “Workers sent a clear message of resistance against anti-social, unfair and meaningless measures of the government”, says the union message. Federation accuses the government that continues “the policy of increasing the tax burden on workers and pensioners, while preparing a new attack against the security rights with a reduction in pensions, raising the retirement age and changing the nature of the social insurance system. At the same time in Brussels is looking for options for direct financial assistance. Head of the group of eurozone finance ministers Jean-Claude Juncker said he did not exclude the possibility that Greece should be supported jointly by the European countries and the International Monetary Fund, although it stressed that it supports the idea of recourse to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) .
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The German banks make money at the expense of Greece, gave Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos accused. He explained that this occurs when his country is waiting from Berlin and the EU assistance to remedy its financial system. “What can be seen from the German position is that banks in Germany have speculated with the bonds to its counterparts in the euro area, as allowed to play with the fate of unhappy people in my country, while on their back in Germany, make money,” said Pangalos. With almost 43 billion euro loan banks are Germany’s biggest creditor of Greece. Berlin last week to oppose the idea of providing new financial assistance to Athens and said that the Greek government only has to cope with the crisis. Greek deputy is one of the most fierce opponents of Germany. His name was implicated in a month ago, the media war between the German magazine Focus, and two Greek newspapers. Pangalos then Germany criticized the attitude of the Greek financial crisis, stressing that Athens never received adequate reparations for World War II. And came to an official note from the the German Foreign Ministry, which said that discussions about the past do not help to solve today’s problems. Now Pangalos prosecution argued with Germany’s export expansion. “Although the countries of Southern Europe suffer from the fall of the euro, German exports because of rising profits, which made massive Germany”, said Deputy Prime Minister of our southern neighbor.
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The European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso insisted before the EU leaders to take more decisive action on financial assistance to Greece before the summit, which will be held on March 25, wrote the international agencies. In an interview in today’s edition of the German edition Handelsblatt Barroso stated that the Commission is working on a plan to settle on a system of bilateral loans to Greece, he stated that this should happen as soon as possible. Have after the meeting to give a clear signal of how they will react to the situation. Otherwise, there would come much uncertainty as this may endanger the stability of the euro area and to encourage speculation, further indicates the head of the EC. Barroso added that the decision should be taken on a principled basis and to prepare a mechanism for possible action, if Greece decides to resort to it. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel is the most serious obstacle to the adoption of a plan for Greece, which provides for EU funding for Athens. Recalled its statement at the end of last week, in which Merkel stated that the upcoming meeting on Thursday does not foresee the vote on a financial package to Greece.
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Once it was suspected that Greece has helped to mask its government deficit and to adopt the euro in 2001, today it became clear that U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs was involved in the sale of Greek government securities (GS) for at least 15 billion . dollars since 2002. It has delivered the most profitable investment bank on Wall Street profit of around 735 million euro, a survey of Bloomberg. Over the past eight years Goldman Sachs has been among the underwriter for ten issues of Greek government bonds. In six of the prospectuses for these emissions did not mention currency swaps concluded with Greece. From Bloomberg clarify that the prospectus for the other four arranged by Goldman Sachs sales of Greek government bonds since 2002 are not detected, but the bank refused to comment on the veracity of the allegations. Earlier this week in New York Times appeared information that currency swaps between Goldman Sachs and the Greek Government have enabled the country to conceal the size of its budget deficit in 2001 and thereby meet the requirements for euro adoption. This week it became clear that Greece has received funding out of balance by $ 1 billion through currency swaps entered into with Goldman Sachs in 2002, regulatory authorities of the European Union, however, were not informed about this transaction, which according to the Greek finance ministry has been completely lawful at the time of its conclusion.
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The American stocks rose sharply Tuesday, with the key index added more than 1 percent, after it became clear that the euro area discusses the possibility of aid to Greece to tackle the budget deficit. Eurozone leaders have decided to discuss the plan on February 11 for Greece, which reduce the biggest budget deficit in the region. Germany is already preparing a bilateral plan, which both reduce the deficit of Greece. Additional support was the main indices and the report of the Ministry of Commerce in the United States for the decline in stocks of companies for wholesale in December after month earlier had registered the biggest growth in five years. Inventories fell 0.8% after growth of 1.6 percent in November while sales increased by 0.8%. On the corporate level Morgan Stanley increased the rating of the industrial sector to the improving business environment. Caterpillar Inc. grew by 4.6 percent to 53.13 dollars. Copper producer Freeport-McMoRan added 5 percent to 72.64 dollars after the copper price increase for the second consecutive day in London with 2.7%. Exxon Mobil Corp., The largest energy company, added 1.8 percent to 65.50 dollars after oil prices rose by 2.6 percent in New York, while ConocoPhillips shares added 2.9 percent to 48.74 dollars.
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The European governments have made arrangement to have a principal financial assistance to Greece and considering various options, including bilateral aid, said on CNBC senior representative of the ruling coalition in Germany. “The decision has been taken in principle and in the euro area,” said the source. Germanic lawmakers are considering financial aid to Greece, said earlier before Bloomberg Michael Meister, a member of the Christian Democratic Union of Chancellor Angela Merkel. “Whatever assistance, either bilaterally or by the entire European region will be accompanied by strict conditions, is complemented Meister. It is quite important for the government of Greece to get such support from Europe.
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The European stocks started the week with a fall, as Pan-European index Dow Jones Stoxx 600 lost 0,5 per cent to 247.88 points. National Bank of Greece SA – the largest Greek bank, slid 5.6 percent during trade in Athens. Prime Minister George Papandreou will have to convince investors that it can cope with the worst fiscal crisis in the country for 15 years. The government will submit to the new EU plan to tackle the deficit in January. Greece is facing a “very difficult” situation and should take “bold” decision to fix its budget deficit, said today the President of the European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet. By Standard and Poor’s today identified a “negative” outlook to the country’s credit rating, which means that it can be reduced to two months. Second largest bank in the country – EFG Eurobank Ergasias SA, lost 6 percent today, and Piraeus Bank SA – 4 per cent. Shares of Royal Bank of Scotland lost 4.7 percent and those of Lloyds – 4,1 per cent after British finance minister Alistair Darling refused to repeal the tax on very high bonuses. Shares of Siemens AG retreated by 1,6 percent as Morgan Stanley cut its recommendation on them.
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Foreign tourists in neighboring Greece will be less by 10 percent compared with last year because of the economic crisis this year, said Journal Imersiya. According to the edition number of tourists visited Greece this year will be 1.5 million less. The number of tourists to the Greek capital Athens fell by 40 percent, reported the publication cited by BGNES. In most resorts registered a fall of 30-40 per cent. During the first 6 months of the year almost 20 000 people who worked in the field of tourism, are left without work. Due to the economic crisis most Greek hotels are reducing prices by 50-80 percent, even in August, which is considered one of the strongest. Tourism forms 18 percent of the GDP of Greece.
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