Monday, October 22, 2012

Greek savings are a 'sensational achievement'


EUROZONE CRISIS

DW.DE
European parliament member Jorgo Chatzimarkakis explains why the Greek government has done a good job in handling the state debt crisis so far - but why it also needs more time.

Money edges back to Greece as euro exit fear wanes


By Tom Bill and Chris Vellacott
LONDON | Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:49am EDT
(Reuters) - After scrambling to get their money out of Greece as the economy collapsed, Greeks abroad are regaining an appetite for shares and property at home, spurred on by bargain prices and a bet that their country will stay in the euro zone after all.

Greece Austerity Diet Risks 1930s-Style Depression: Euro Credit


Bloomberg
By John Glover and Radoslav Tomek - Oct 22, 2012 11:23 AM GMT+0300
Greece is spiraling into the kind of decline the U.S. and Germany endured during the Great Depression, showing the scale of the challenge involved in attempting to regain competitiveness through austerity.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

DER SPIEGEL: Germany Is Considering A Buy-Back Plan To Slash Greece's Huge Pile Of Debt


Alexandra Hudson, Reuters   | Oct. 21, 2012, 8:11 AM
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Finance Ministry is considering a debt buy-back as a possible way of reducing Greece's huge debt pile which threatens to rise well above a target level of 120 percent of GDP by 2020, according to German news magazine Spiegel.

Friday, October 19, 2012

EU leaders clash on fiscal powers as Greeks protest



Nikolia Apostolou and Sumi Somaskanda Special for USA TODAY
European leaders meet to discuss fiscal unity amid disagreement over how to achieve it and protests over budget cuts in Greece.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Greek Euro Exit Unavoidable if IMF, Euro Zone Can't Agree

The Wall Street Journal
By COSTAS PARIS
The International Monetary Fund and Europe are still far from finding a common formula to tackle Greece's explosive debt crisis, with the IMF insisting on a "haircut" on the principle that Athens owes its creditors, while euro-zone governments dismissed the proposal because of political repercussions.

Greece faces anti-austerity shutdown as EU meets

By Karolina Tagaris
ATHENS | Wed Oct 17, 2012 6:09pm EDT
(Reuters) - Greek workers will walk off the job for the second time in three weeks on Thursday, hoping to show EU leaders meeting in Brussels that a new wave of wage and pension cuts will only worsen the plight of a people worn down by five years of recession.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Greece close to €31bn bailout deal


As European leaders prepare for summit, troika says broad outlines agreed on austerity measures Greece must impose

Greece, lenders declare progress as inspectors depart


By Renee Maltezou
ATHENS | Wed Oct 17, 2012 9:33am EDT
(Reuters) - Inspectors from Greece's international lenders will leave Athens after making substantial progress on talks to unlock aid for the near-bankrupt country but without agreement on crucial labor reforms, officials said on Wednesday.

"Grexit" could spark global economic crisis: German think tank



(Reuters) - A Greek exit from the euro zone could trigger a global economic crisis of dire proportions and must be avoided at all costs, a respected German think tank said in a study published on Wednesday.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Greece, troika talks hit snag on labour reforms


ATHENS | Tue Oct 16, 2012 2:04pm EDT
(Reuters) - Greece's labor minister and international lenders briefly suspended talks on austerity cuts on Tuesday to confer with their leaders on the thorny issue of labor reforms, which raised objections among government coalition partners.

Greece prepares second wave of privatizations


(Reuters) - Greece plans to launch tenders to sell or lease a string of state assets, including its biggest refiner and two largest ports, as it battles to pay down debt and meet the terms of an international bailout.

Greece Will Probably Leave Euro Within Six Months, Borg Says


By Johan Carlstrom and Josiane Kremer on October 13, 2012
As European Union leaders prepare for a summit next week devoted to saving the euro, Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg said Greece may quit the common currency within the next six months.

Greece Is Not Poor; Has Abundance Of Uptapped Reserves Of Gold, Oil And Natural Gas


October 15th, 2012
Michael Snyder: It turns out that the poster child for the European debt crisis is not actually poor at all.  In fact, the truth is that the nation of Greece is sitting on absolutely massive untapped reserves of gold, oil and natural gas.  If the Greeks were to fully exploit the natural resources that are literally right under their feet, they would no longer have any debt problems. 

Greece and Troika deal after EU summit


FXstreet.com (San Francisco) - "It is difficult to reach an agreement by the EU Summit" said Greece's Finance Minister Giannis Stournaras on Monday after meeting with Troika's officials. "There is still the issue of the debt sustainability and the financing gap," Stournaras added and pointed that "all show that we are heading towards an emergency Eurogroup" meeting.

Softening stance on Greece, Merkel rules out default


(Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel has ruled out letting Greece default on its debt, in the latest sign Berlin is softening its stance towards Athens ahead of an eagerly awaited report on its reform progress from the "troika" of international lenders.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Germany holds firm on Greece as IMF pressure mounts


By Antoni Slodkowski and Julien Toyer
TOKYO | Fri Oct 12, 2012 4:34am EDT
(Reuters) - Germany held firm on Friday in insisting it was too soon to say Greece deserved more time to meet its budget-cutting goals even as the head of the IMF laid out the case for leniency.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Greece's Coca Cola Hellenic to switch main listing to London


ATHENS | Thu Oct 11, 2012 3:34am EDT
Oct 11 (Reuters) - Coca Cola Hellenic, Greece's biggest company by market value, said on Thursday it would switch its main bourse listing to London, where it hopes to tap more liquidity from investors.

IMF’s Lagarde Says Greece Needs More Time to Meet Targets


By Sandrine Rastello - Oct 11, 2012 7:36 AM GMT+0300
Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) --International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said Greece should get two years to meet fiscal targets and suggested debt reductions are needed before a 130 billion-euro ($167 billion) bailout can proceed.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Greece Welcomes Gold Miners to Rank First in Europe: Commodities


Bloomberg News

For three years, Steve Sharpe’s company prodded Greek officials for permission to drill for gold. Before approval was finally granted this year, European Goldfields Ltd.’s battered share price attracted a takeover bid.