Business News » Greece

The German business is ready to support Greece

viliyana89 — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:12:31 +0000

The German business is willing to support efforts to promote Greece’s exit. It is clear from the talks in Berlin, finance ministers of both countries Evangelos Venizelos and Wolfgang Schauble. Schauble welcomed by the Greek Parliament approved anti-crisis program of the government in Athens. The talks had been agreed that it contains saving measures should be implemented immediately in order to accelerate economic recovery of Greece. Was also noted that in addition to those measures needed to boost economic growth and in particular to support the private sector and private investment to Greece may be able to balance its budget in the near future. The Greek debt crisis was the theme of the meeting in Berlin of foreign ministers of Germany and Greece Guido Westerwelle and Stavros Lambrinidis. Speaking to journalists the first Greek diplomat said that all who now are betting on the collapse of Greece or the collapse of Europe have been completely disproved, and that they will continue to be refuted.
The Greek Foreign Minister arrives today for talks in Vienna in connection with the second bailout package that Greece expected to occur after September.

It’s surely decision time for the ECB, Germany and Greece?

viliyana89 — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 08:54:13 +0000

Investors are increasingly seeing CFD trading and spread betting as viable alternatives to traditional ways of accessing and profiting from the the financial markets. Uppermost in forex traders minds the week beginning 13 June 2011 was the continuing saga of Greece’s debt bailout.
The latest round of discussions was precipitated by the International Monetary Fund’s refusal to release the latest loan installment of the help package without seeing fresh measures in place that would keep Greece safe from bankruptcy for the next twelve months.
This meant that the European Union, the European Central Bank and the EU’s largest economies, chief among them Germany, had to agree to a new solution to secure Greece’s medium-term financial stability. A solution that would have to contain another sizeable amount of euros, thought to be between €60 and €100 billion.
With German Chancellor Merkel under enormous pressure from an increasingly anti-eurozone electorate, Merkel and her Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble both made passionate pleas to the German parliament and public in defence of the euro and need to secure Greece’s future within it.
Schäuble proposed that any deal would require assistance from private Greek bondholders who should ‘voluntarily’ accept a seven year extension to their maturities. The German parliament voted in favour of this new deal, in principle.
However, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet made it very clear that he was against such an event happening saying that expecting investors to digest such losses would be very similar to defaulting.
What the future is for a eurozone that’s becoming increasingly politically and economically fractured is still not certain. Indeed, how will the various tax-paying electorates of the EU’s most powerful economies react if this issue rumbles on and on and they are asked to keep contributing to other countries that might not share the same economic potential as them?

Greece sells its gas, electricity and telecom company

viliyana89 — Thu, 27 May 2010 06:55:21 +0000

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.
Cabinet seeks to take advantage of incurred positive climate in the markets after being activated mechanism to provide loans to Greece from the EU and the International Monetary Fund for a period of three years amounted to 110 billion to overcome its financial crisis comment Greek media said on Wednesday.

Pessimism is back on the markets in Greece and Europe

viliyana89 — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 05:30:25 +0000

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.
Bank of England leaves base rate unchanged in the country today due to unclear prospects for the British economy and keep the size of its program to increase liquidity in the financial system by purchasing securities for a total of 200 billion pounds. Shortly afterwards, the European Central Bank also refrain from changes in its key interest rate and leave him a record low of 1 percent in April. The debt crisis in Greece probably will force the ECB to delay the withdrawal of its measures to support the economy of the euro area this year. The main stock index of the Frankfurt DAX gave up 0.8% with 6 172 points after the German industry reported zero growth in February. In France, the CAC fell 1.2 percent to 3 978 points after the reduction of retail sales underlined the fragile state of the European economy.

New protests in Athens

viliyana89 — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 10:05:44 +0000

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) .
“I do not support the idea of having recourse to the IMF. But it is not heretical to think that we could not resort to two types of instruments: bilateral aid to Greece and a dose of help from the IMF, but more than technical expertise, Juncker said yesterday before the European Parliament. “It is too early to definitively tell matter, but it is possible that we may resort to double this instrument. My personal opinion is, however, that better not pass without the IMF,” added Jean-Claude Juncker. Yesterday, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso wants the forthcoming European Council on 25 and 26 March in Brussels, to approve the European mechanism for coordinated assistance to Greece, said a spokesman for the commission. Jose Manuel Barroso is convinced that there is room for such a mechanism and pressures within its capabilities for its approval, he said. Earlier in the day on Monday, an unnamed senior European official, quoted by ITAR-TASS said that the European Plan for Aid to Greece, will be around 22 billion euros. For the first time he directly acknowledged that the plan may be supplemented with resources from the IMF.

German banks make money on the back of Greece

viliyana89 — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 09:56:50 +0000

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.
On the same forum was lectured by the Bank of Greece, quoted by the agency Reuters. It said that the country’s economy has turned into a vicious circle of problems, and only strict discipline can help to be shortened huge budget deficit debt. And this can happen to the reforms that help the economy begin to grow, advised the Greek central bank. Vdokladase added that recovery would be prolonged and painful, and initiated measures are only the beginning of the great contraction. The next step will be to support economic growth through structural change, focusing primarily on development of competition. Bank analysts expect that this year will be reported decreased by approximately 2% of GDP. Inflation may reach about 3%. The report said that the fragile economic recovery in the euro zone started in the third quarter of 2009 will continue this year, mainly due to fiscal incentives. Greece’s budget deficit in 2009 reached 12.9 percent of GDP and public debt – 115 percent of GDP.

Barroso required from EU leaders more resolute support for Greece

viliyana89 — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:01:54 +0000

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.
According to sources from the EU IMF may provide about half the 25 billion euros, of which Greece is needed.

Goldman sold Greek government bonds for 15 billion USD

viliyana89 — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:08:31 +0000

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.
Concealment of the swap agreement, however, probably helped Goldman Sachs, the other underwriter of the issue and Greece to obtain a higher price for their proposed Greek government securities, because investors were misled about the real financial situation of the country. The European Commission is investigating publications in American and German press, which suggest that several investment banks and brokerage companies in the U.S. have helped Greece to cover its budget deficit to be able to adopt the euro in 2001 to the end of this week the country must provide information on all Eurostat concluded currency swap agreements. Greece was accused of presenting false statistics on its public finances in late 2009 and will have to explain why the information entered into swap agreements was provided to regulators in the European Union.
According to Kristoforos Sardelis, who was head of the agency managing the public debt of Greece to 2002, the deal with Goldman Sachs took place in a currency swap for about $ 10 billion debt, which was denominated in U.S. dollars and Japanese yen. They were replaced by the euro through the mechanism of historical exchange rates which reduced the size of the Greek deficit and generated about $ 1 billion initial receipt to Greece. So far, however, not clear whether this is true, and how was reflected in the budgetary deficit of the country or its government debt.

US indexes gone up after the positive news from Greece

viliyana89 — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:20:01 +0000

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.
Coca-Cola Co. rose by 3.3 percent to 54.38 dollars. Largest producer of soft drinks in the world, reported earnings for the fourth quarter, according to analysts’ expectations, and marked growth in sales in markets like China and India. NYSE Euronext added 4.8 percent to 23.57 dollars after the largest exchange operator in the United States exceeded targets by 21% analysts’ expectations of earnings for the fourth quarter. Broad indexes rose. Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 1.3 percent to 1070 points while the Nasdaq Composite index rose by 1.17 percent to 2150 points.

Europe agree to help Greece

viliyana89 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:23:32 +0000

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.
These comments are the first clear sign that Europe’s economic leader Germany is probably ready to intervene to prevent a crisis of confidence in the single European currency.