Grrece’s economic team writes and erases “structural reforms” and prepares the list the government is obliged to submit to the Institutions by Friday. Well… not exactly Friday. Make it Monday, March 3oth. At the same time, the country’s lenders increase the pressure in the usual stick & carrot manner maintaining an atmosphere of uncertainty. While Greece’s creditors were initially content to receive a thorough list of structural reforms (cost incl.), now they say, they want the list AND implementation of reforms. Otherwise, no money, no bailout’s last reimbursement of €7.5 billion.
Greeks spend their days trying to avoid confrontation with the worst scenario like failure of negotiations and bankruptcy and keep withdrawing money from their bank accounts. that is those who still have deposits in the banks. Surprise! Constant media reports that Greeks withdraw their money money and hide them under mattresses, friends and relatives started to report again of theft – successful or unsuccessful – attempts in private households.
Citing European Central Bank data, Reuters reports today that “the level of deposits in Greek banks fell by 7.8 billion euros to 147.523 billion euros in February.”
Despite the good & constructive meeting of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras with Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday, Germany remains adamant towards Greece and rejected Greece’s request to have €1.2 billion in overpaid bonds returned.
“We see no reason to return the money,” German Finance Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said on Wednesday confirming that the EFSF, the ECB, the Eurozone and all other cute financial institutions are been commended from Berlin.
Senior Euro zone officials agreed in a telephone conference on Wednesday that Greece was not legally entitled to the money, although they said they would consider how to deal with the issue in the future.” Greece had overpaid when it transferred bonds intended for bank recapitalization back to the Luxembourg-based fund this month.
Still three days ago, Greece was hoping to get approved a 4.9-billion-euro financial injection but creditors do not seem willing to give even one cent.
The European Central Bank increased the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) by 2 billion euro. That’s apparently a little piece of candy to the Greek banks, after the ECB allegedly instructed Greece’s biggest banks to refrain from increasing their exposure to Greek government debt. In simple words: to refrain from buying Greek T-bills.
President Mario Draghi rejected claims that the ECB was blackmailing Greece. “The last thing one can say is that the ECB is not supporting Greece,” Draghi said on Wednesday. Millions of Greeks felt deeply touched and burst into bitter tears of gratitude…
Greece’s eternal friend European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker expressed optimism about the outcome of the negotiations between Greece and its lenders.
And Bank of Greece governor Yiannis Stournaras said that “there is no Grexit.”
A chart showing how much money Greece owes to its creditors raises the question: can Greece pay back its huge debt with “structural reforms”, bitter-end cuts in state expenditure and strictest austerity with there are no measures for growth?
Of course, Greece does not have to pay back all of its loans .. tomorrow.
The European Central Bank increased the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) by 2 billion euro. That’s apparently a little piece of candy to the Greek banks, after the ECB allegedly instructed Greece’s biggest banks to refrain from increasing their exposure to Greek government debt. In simple words: to refrain from buying Greek T-bills.
on the T-bills Greece had already the max. off 15 Billion.
you Wonne servive?
get your tax evaders in switzerland.
the Greek billonairs hiding there.
it is only about 2-3 Billion.
it is just ok for one month payment for your goverment workers.