Public debt, unemployment, big NPL pile weigh on Greece: central bank governor

NOVEMBER 10, 2017 / 11:57 AM / UPDATED 16 MINUTES AGO
Reuters Staff
2 MIN READ


Reuters

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece’s banks have shown progress in tackling a stockpile of non-performing loans, Bank of Greece governor Yiannis Stournaras said on Friday, but said it would remain a challenge for the country.

Greek banks are saddled with 103 billion euros in bad loans, equal to almost 60 percent of the economy, after years of financial crisis and crippling recession. The European Central Bank wants that reduced by 38 billion euros by the end of 2019.

A Turning Point for Greece

By Marcus Ashworth

Bloomberg

Nov 6, 2017 1:00 AM EST
Greece is taking a step closer to get the respect it deserves from Europe.Yields on the country's government bonds, which have already taken great strides lower this year, hit a new low last week on news the government is preparing a major debt swap. The exercise, first reported by Bloomberg News, should allow Greece to sell bonds in future -- and help end its dependence on the largess of its main creditors.

Greece: Where Literally Sitting on Goldmine Is Not Enough to Make Money

By Sotiris Nikas , Paul Tugwell , and Danielle Bochove
11 Σεπτεμβρίου 2017, 3:50 μ.μ. EEST 11 Σεπτεμβρίου 2017, 8:31 μ.μ. EEST

Bloomberg

“Irrespective of what will happen next, the damage for Greece as an investment destination is done and it is very significant,”

Eldorado Gold Corp. has put Greece on the spot.

The Canadian mining company’s decision on Monday to suspend all its operations in Greece, citing delays in acquiring routine permits, puts the Syriza government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in a difficult position. Eldorado Gold is the largest foreign investor in Greece and its decision comes as the country, which is working on creating a sustainable path to exit its bailout program, tries to lure foreign investments.

Greek unemployment eases to 25.9 percent in August

ATHENS Thu Nov 13, 2014 5:11am EST

(Reuters) - Greece's jobless rate fell to 25.9 percent in August from a downwardly revised 26.1 percent rate in July as the country's six-year recession eases, Greek statistics agency ELSTAT said on Thursday.

August's reading was the lowest since August 2012 when unemployment stood at 25.5 percent. The record high was set in September 2013, when unemployment hit 28 percent.

Greece's unemployment is coming down from record highs as the economy stabilizes after a severe recession but remains at more than double the euro zone average of 11.5 percent in August. Greek national output is projected to emerge from recession and expand by 0.6 percent this year.

(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos, editing by Deepa Babington)

Among American workers, poll finds unprecedented anxiety about jobs, economy

By Jim Tankersley and Scott Clement,

Tuesday, November 26, 2:03 AM E-mail the writers

The Washington Post

CHESTER, Pa. — The alarm rang on John Stewart’s phone at 1:10 a.m. Up at 1:30, he caught one bus north into Philadelphia a little after 2 and another bus, south toward the airport, half an hour after that. He made it into work around 3:25 for a shift that started at 4, for a job that pays $5.25 an hour, which he cannot afford to lose.

Wrong Prescription for Greece

The New York Times

July 9, 2013

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Greece and its financial overseers agreed on terms for continued bailout payments on Monday. The agreement is cause for relief — without it Greece would go bankrupt. But, at the same time, it is no cause for celebration — indeed, quite the opposite. Greece must eventually carry out painful reforms. But the precondition for these reforms is not the austerity demanded by the agreement but economic revival.

Greece Shuts Broadcaster in Bid to Show Resolve

ATHENS — Under pressure from its creditors to cut public employment, the Greek government said Tuesday that it was closing down its state-run television and radio broadcaster, idling 2,900 people — less than 1 percent of the public work force — and outraging the country’s powerful labor unions.

Describing the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, known as ERT, as a “haven of waste,” a government spokesman said ERT, which went off the air at 11 p.m. local time, would reopen soon as a “modern state organization” with a fraction of the current staff.

Greece’s Unemployment Rate Increased to Record High in January

By Tom Stoukas - Apr 11, 2013 1:45 PM GMT+0300

Bloomberg

Greece’s unemployment rate increased to a record in January as the country’s economic downturn entered a sixth year.

The seasonally adjusted rate rose to 27.2 percent from a revised 25.7 percent in December, the Athens-based Hellenic Statistical Authority said in an e-mailed statement today. That’s the highest level since the agency began publishing monthly data in 2004.

Greece Faces 150,000 Job-Cut Hurdle to Aid Payment: Euro Credit

Bloomberg News

By Maria Petrakis and Marcus Bensasson on March 11, 2013

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-03-11/greece-faces-150-000-job-cut-hurdle-to-aid-payment-euro-credit#p1

Greece is locked in talks with international creditors in Athens about shrinking the government workforce by enough to keep bailout payments flowing.

Identifying redundant positions and putting in place a system that will lead to mandatory exits for about 150,000 civil servants by 2015 is a so-called milestone that will determine whether the country gets a 2.8 billion-euro ($3.6 billion) aid instalment due this month. More than a week of talks on that has so far failed to clinch an agreement.

Europe's Rising Social and Political Risks

Posted: 03/11/2013 12:13 pm

Daniel WagnerCEO, Country Risk Solutions
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-wagner/europes-rising-social-and_b_2853191.html

While income inequality has been falling globally since the 1980s, it has been rising in most of Europe. The Gini Coefficient, a widely used measure of income inequality, has risen since that time not only in Eastern Europe, but among Europe's wealthiest societies.

UPDATE 1-Greek unemployment falls for first time since 2008

Thu Mar 7, 2013 5:55am EST

* Jobless rate slightly down to 26.4 percent from revised 26.6 pct in Nov

* First monthly drop since May 2008

* Bailout deal may have given short-term boost to hirings-economist

* Greek unemployment still highest in euro area

ATHENS, March 7 (Reuters) - Greece's jobless rate fell in December for the first time since a crippling recession began five years ago, helped by a bailout deal that propped up companies' willingness to hire in the short-term.

Italy behind rise in eurozone jobless to record

By By Pan Pylas on March 01, 2013

Bloomberg Businessweek

LONDON (AP) — Italy's voters gave their verdict on the austerity medicine they've been forced to take when they went to the polls earlier this week. By Friday, one of the reasons behind the protest was highlighted when the country's unemployment hit its highest level in at least two decades.