Greece...

Cyberman60

Not long now to the Grexit I predicted.

:beer: :T

TheBlueHorse

Greece have no money. It is just a case of whether the IMF/EU think it will be a bigger disaster for them to stay (and make a new deal - making IMF/EU look like chumps and making all other countries want a renegotiation) or whether it is worse if they go - either because the EU will collapse - or more likely, because Greece will probably do alright and all the other countries will be thinking "!!!!!! is this all about?"

I think they will try and keep the EU together at all costs, even if it means a few renegotiations/ Too many on the gravy train to let it collapse.

BlondeHeadOn

Alexis Tsipras flies to Moscow amid speculation of bailout from Putin...
see the Guardian article here:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/07/alexis-tsipras-flies-to-moscow-speculation-greek-bailout-vladimir-putin

Determined to take Greek-Russian relations out of “the deep freeze”, a defiant Alexis Tsipras flew to Moscow on Tuesday for talks with president Vladimir Putin, ratcheting up the pressure on the western creditors keeping his debt-stricken country afloat.

Amid speculation that Putin might make an offer of financial help that the Greek prime minister will find hard to turn down, officials said the controversial trip should be seen through the prism of Athens’ leftist-led government doing “what is best for Greece”.

I remember joking about the possibility of a financial arrangement with Russia in a much earlier post on this thread - I never thought it was a real possibility though!

Froggitt

Isn't Russia virtually bust though? Oil gone thru the floor. An economy the size of Holland.

mystic_trev

With time and money running out, Greece’s finance minister was set to warn Barack Obama last night that without help his country could trigger a global financial crisis.

In a meeting in the White House, Yanis Varoufakis was expected to ask the US president to intercede on Greece’s behalf with the International Monetary Fund to stave off looming repayments.

His argument was: “Is the Greek financial saga — a pittance — worth the unravelling of the entire global financial system? If not, then please weigh in, and get the IMF to back off on demands it is insisting Athens meet.”

How much longer before Greece default?

Froggitt

It wont unravel. It would have three years ago. He missed his opportunity to call the world's bluff then.

Generali

mystic_trev wrote: »

How much longer before Greece default?

Dunno Trev. I suspect one of the news articles I linked to will be right........or wrong of course.

antrobus

mystic_trev wrote: »

How much longer before Greece default?

What is utterly ludicrous about that quote from Varoufakis is the idea that the 'global financial system' is at any risk of collapse as a result of a Greek default.

The 'global financial system' has happily coped with the previous sovereign defaults of nations far bigger than Greece which, to be blunt, is of no great consequence in global economic terms.

Generali

antrobus wrote: »

What is utterly ludicrous about that quote from Varoufakis is the idea that the 'global financial system' is at any risk of collapse as a result of a Greek default.

The 'global financial system' has happily coped with the previous sovereign defaults of nations far bigger than Greece which, to be blunt, is of no great consequence in global economic terms.

I mostly agree.

I believe that if Greece defaults then technically speaking the ECB is insolvent due to ECB holdings of Greek bonds and also Target II deficits that would need to be crystallized. That could cause some problems.

However, the days when BNP Paribas and Deutsche were insolvent if Greece defaulted are long gone.

antrobus

Generali wrote: »

I mostly agree.

I believe that if Greece defaults then technically speaking the ECB is insolvent due to ECB holdings of Greek bonds and also Target II deficits that would need to be crystallized. That could cause some problems.

However, the days when BNP Paribas and Deutsche were insolvent if Greece defaulted are long gone.

I'm guessing that Obama will give Lagarde a call and express his sympathy for having to deal with Greece on a regular basis.