Greek Strike Shows Conflict Within Government Over Austerity

By NIKI KITSANTONISNOV. 12, 2015

The New York Times

ATHENS — Hundreds of thousands of Greeks walked off their jobs on Thursday to protest austerity economics, as officials of the leftist-led government wrangled with the country’s international creditors over the terms of Greece’s third bailout. At least one Athens protest turned violent.

The 24-hour walkout shut down public services, forced the cancellation of flights and disrupted public transportation across the country. Ferries remained moored in ports, hospitals were operating with reduced staff, and museums and archaeological sites were closed.

Creditors Withhold 2 Billion Euro Bailout Payment From Greece

By NIKI KITSANTONIS NOV. 9, 2015

The New York Times

ATHENS — Greece’s international bailout program has hit snags, delaying release of the next payout of rescue money.

Despite a weekend of negotiations by telephone, Greek officials and the country’s foreign creditors remained at odds. At a meeting in Brussels on Monday, eurozone finance ministers debated whether Athens had met the first set of conditions to unlock the next installment of the bailout of 86 billion euros (about $92 billion).

The ministers decided to delay the release of the payout, a sum of €2 billion, but indicated it might be dispensed soon.

Eurozone Finance Ministers Won’t Release $2.15 billion Loan to Greece

Disagreements over new foreclosure rules continue, two European officials say

The Wall Street Journal

By GABRIELE STEINHAUSER and  VIKTORIA DENDRINOU

Updated Nov. 9, 2015 4:05 a.m. ET

BRUSSELS—Eurozone finance ministers won’t release €2 billion ($2.15 billion) of funding for Greece at their meeting here Monday amid continued disagreements over new foreclosure rules, two European officials said.

Senior officials from the currency union’s finance ministries were updated on Greece’s implementation of around 50 promised overhauls, known as milestones, during a conference call Sunday afternoon. While progress has been made on some issues—including measures to substitute a tax on private education, the governance of the country’s bailed-out banks and the treatment of overdue loans—Athens and its creditors will need more time to sign off on all overhauls, the officials said.

Οι καθαρίστριες του κ. Τσακαλώτου

Οι καθαρίστριες του κ. Τσακαλώτου

04 Νοέμβριος 2015. Posted in Εφημερίδα Καθημερινή

Του Πάσχου Μανδραβέλη

«Σιγά!», θα πει κάποιος. «Αυτό είναι το πρόβλημα της χώρας; Οι 165 καθαρίστριες του κ. Τσακαλώτου;». Φυσικά όχι, διότι στην Ελλάδα δεν υπάρχει ΤΟ πρόβλημα. Υπάρχουν χιλιάδες μικρά προβλήματα, που όλα μαζί αθροίζονται και δημιουργούν ΤΟ πρόβλημα.

The Greece Debt Watch

Inside the bailout bonanza.

Bloomberg

By Dimitra Kessenides

August 2015

Greece signs a third bailout deal with the European Commission, agreeing to sweeping reforms in exchange for fresh loans in the amount of €86 billion.

Fall 2015

Greek lawmakers raise the retirement age, cut pensions, and increase the sales tax.

Oct. 31, 2015

After stress-testing the country’s top four banks, the European Central Bank says they’ll need €4.4 billion ($4.8 billion) to €14.4 billion of additional capital.

Nov. 6, 2015

The deadline for banks to submit plans detailing how they’ll raise the additional capital.

Winter 2016

Euro area member states will discuss easing Greece’s debt burden, following the successful completion of the first bailout review.

March-April 2016

Lenders will assess how much progress the country has made toward fiscal health. An unsatisfactory review could lead them to demand more austerity measures, again raising the question of a Grexit.

Greece Set to Vote on Bailout Provisions

 NIKI KITSANTONISNOV. 5, 2015

The New York Times

ATHENS — Greek lawmakers on Thursday were poised to approve some of the economic changes that international creditors were demanding before unlocking the first loan installment from the country’s bailout program. But the legislation pointedly lacks some of the main measures demanded by lenders.

Resistance to Authority in Greece as Pessimism Takes Hold

By STEVEN ERLANGERNOV. 5, 2015

The New York Times

LONDON — Yiorgos Kaminis has the privilege and misfortune of being the mayor of Athens, the suffering heart of bankrupt Greece, marked by both the majesty of the Parthenon and a relentless wave of graffiti hooligans, whose work he does not have the money to scrape off.

Now 61, Mr. Kaminis was born in New York and lived there until the age of 5, studied in France, taught law at the University of Athens and was re-elected last year as the nonpartisan mayor of one of the world’s great cities.

Greece Sets Terms for Aiding $15.9 Billion Bank Recap

Nikos Chrysoloras

November 2, 2015 — 2:42 AM EET Updated on November 2, 2015

Greece’s government detailed under what terms it will help banks plug a 14.4 billion-euro ($15.9 billion) hole in their books identified by the European Central Bank, paving the way for the lenders to seek cash from investors for the second time in 18 months.

Greece sets mix of bonds, shares in state aid to recapitalise banks

Sun Nov 1, 2015 11:12pm GMT Related: BUSINESS

Reuters

Greece's bank bailout fund HFSF will provide state aid to recapitalise the country's main banks by buying a mix of contingent convertible bonds (CoCoS) and new shares the lenders will issue, the government said on Sunday.

The Hellenic Financial Stability Fund will supply 75 percent of the aid needed via CoCos and 25 percent in exchange for new common shares the banks will issue, the government's economic policy council said, finalising the architecture of the plan.

U.S. Says Greece Must Lift Bank Governance to Build on Progress

By Rebecca Christie,  Andrew Mayeda

Bloomberg

Greece must improve financial-sector governance now that its biggest banks are moving to sounder footing, the U.S. Treasury’s top international official said.

“There’s a meaningful stabilization of the Greek banks,” Nathan Sheets, undersecretary for international affairs, said in an interview ahead of Saturday’s stress test and asset quality review results.

Greece Outlines Bank Recapitalization Plan

Vote into law is expected on Saturday evening

By NEKTARIA STAMOULI

Oct. 30, 2015 5:14 p.m. ET

0 COMMENTS

ATHENS—Greece unveiled its bank recapitalization framework Friday and is expected to vote it into law Saturday evening, hours after the European Central Bank releases results of its health check on the country’s four big banks.

This will be the third capital increase of the country’s battered lenders since Greece’s debt crisis erupted in 2010 and has to be completed by the end of the year, before the deposit bail-in instrument becomes effective at the beginning of 2016.

According to the draft bill, the lenders will be able to use common or preferred shares, as well as other financing instruments to be bailed in.

Greece's deputy finance minister gets bullet, threatening letter in post

Mon Oct 26, 2015 4:58pm EDT 

ATHENS

Reuters

Greece's deputy finance minister on Monday got a letter in the post with a bullet in it and a note comparing him to a collaborator with Germany's Nazi forces who occupied the country in World War Two, the Greek finance ministry said.

Many Greeks blame Germany, Europe's biggest economy, for the austerity programs linked to the country's 86 billion euro ($95 billion) international bailout agreed in August.

Greece needs to recapitalize its banks by year end: Dombrovskis

Tue Oct 27, 2015 5:53am EDT

ATHENS

Reurers

reece needs to have its biggest lenders recapitalized by the end of the year, EU Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said on Tuesday.

"We all agree to finalize bank recapitalization by end of this year," Dombrovskis said after meeting Greece's central bank governor Yannis Stournaras.

Dombrovskis is in Athens for talks on reforms Greece needs to complete before a review which would unlock new aid for the country under an 86 billion euro bailout.

Greece’s Long Road From ‘No’ to ‘Yes’

OCT. 26, 2015

Nikos Konstandaras

New York Times

ATHENS — Greeks will commemorate the Oct. 28 national holiday in a very different country from what it was a year ago. The anniversary marks the day in 1940 when a Greek government rejected an ultimatum from Fascist Italy to allow its troops to enter the country. The “No” (“Ochi” in Greek) united a deeply divided country behind a right-wing dictatorship and thrust Greece into World War II on the side of the Allies. “No” is a symbol of defiance. But now Greeks must decide what they want, rather than what they reject.

Greece, lenders assess bailout compliance; Finance Minister says economy healthier

Wed Oct 21, 2015 11:17am EDT

ATHENS | BY RENEE MALTEZOU AND LEFTERIS PAPADIMAS

Greece and its international lenders began talks on Wednesday to test its compliance with terms of an 86 billion-euro bailout deal, as authorities said a recession this year would be milder than expected.

Athens got its third multi-billion euro lifeline from creditors this year, pulling it back from the brink of crashing out of the euro. But it needs to fix a creaking pensions system, raise taxes and plug capital gaps in its banks this year.

Team leaders from three European Union institutions and the International Monetary Fund are reviewing reforms Athens adopted on Oct. 16 and future "milestones" Greece must pass soon to be eligible for a loan payment of 3 billion euros.

Euro Falls Against Dollar

ECB’s Nowotny suggests officials should use more policy instruments to raise competitiveness

The Wall Street Journal

By IRA IOSEBASHVILI

Oct. 15, 2015 2:14 p.m. ET

0 COMMENTS

The euro fell against the dollar Thursday, after a member of the European Central Bank suggested officials should use more policy instruments to raise the region’s competitiveness.

The euro was recently down 0.7% at $1.1392, giving back most of the previous day’s gains. The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, which gauges the buck against a basket of 16 currencies, was unchanged at 86.62.

The Hidden Debt Burden of Emerging Markets

OCT 9, 2015 8

Carmen Reinhart

Carmen Reinhart is Professor of the International Financial System at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

Read more at https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/hidden-debt-burden-emerging-markets-by-carmen-reinhart-2015-10#FXJpvBLv1lmqBq1A.99

LIMA – As central bankers and finance ministers from around the globe gather for the International Monetary Fund’s annual meetings here in Peru, the emerging world is rife with symptoms of increasing economic vulnerability. Gone are the days when IMF meetings were monopolized by the problems of the advanced economies struggling to recover from the 2008 financial crisis. Now, the discussion has shifted back toward emerging economies, which face the risk of financial crises of their own.

EU to Assess Greek Debt Burden, Servicing Costs After Review

 Rebecca Christie

Bloomberg

The European Commission said it will assess Greece’s debt burden and servicing costs once Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras shows his nation will meet the commitments under its new bailout program.

For debt relief talks to proceed, Greece needs to implement the reforms it has already passed, enact further required measures and pass its first program review, European Union Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici told reporters Monday in Brussels. At that point, he said, authorities can review “under what conditions the Greek debt will be sustainable” and how to “reduce the servicing of the debt.”

Greece’s Parliament Begins Debating First Austerity Bill

Ministers to vote Friday on further economic overhauls agreed in new bailout program

The Wall Street Jornal

By NEKTARIA STAMOULI

Oct. 12, 2015 12:29 p.m. ET

ATHENS—Greece’s parliament Monday began debating the first bill containing tough austerity measures and economic overhauls agreed under its new bailout program.

The bill, which is expected to go to a vote on Friday, includes stricter pension rules, tax hikes and tougher fines for tax evasion.

Under the deal Greece struck with its international creditors, which foresees up to €86 billion ($96 billion) in fresh loans, the omnibus bill—so-called because it wraps a number of proposed reforms into one bill—will pave the way for the disbursement of the next €2 billion in bailout funds.

The Case for Euro-Optimism

By ULRICH SPECKOCT. 6, 2015

The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Europe is declining, disintegrating, collapsing — for many observers, the only question left is how long this ugly drama will last. Across the Continent, optimism about the future of the European project is in short supply.

Perhaps the lone holdout is Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel continues to tell her critics that, from the Greek financial meltdown to the refugee crisis, a common solution is at hand. “We can achieve that,” she has said.