Greece...

wotsthat

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32701278

Greece was forced to tap into an emergency account to make a debt interest payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it has emerged.

The government raided its reserves to make the €750m (£538m) payment on Monday, one day ahead of the deadline.

On Monday, Mr Varoufakis warned his country's financial situation was "terribly urgent" and the crisis could come to a head in a matter of weeks.

The warning came as eurozone finance ministers met in Brussels to discuss the final €7.2bn tranche of Greece's €240bn EU/IMF bailout.

To be fair I'd be quite keen to find €750m in return for €7.2bn.

Better to default after the cheque's in the bank than before.

michaels

wotsthat wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32701278





To be fair I'd be quite keen to find €750m in return for €7.2bn.

Better to default after the cheque's in the bank than before.

Unless it is one of those Nigerian scams, EU keep dangling 7.2bn in front of Greeks whilst squeezing them for every last cent in 'administration fees'....

mystic_trev

Govt spokesman Sakellaridis: Government won't sign 3rd bailout or agree to Cyprus-style solution

http://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2015/may/18/greece-finances-default-fears-markets-live

OK then, default and take the consequences!

Generali

Greek fudge anyone?

mwpt

Rumours (which the EC deny) of a "new plan" by Juncker.

I'm unable to post links, but most media is running with the story.

Paul Mason of C4 does hit on a point that default and grexit is an option but neither side want to be seen to initiate it.

Graham_Devon

I heard on the BBC tonight that the IMF were handing Greece loans last week in order to pay the interest on currently IMF loans.

Takes two to tango in my mind. And handing Greece loans precisely in order that they can pay back the interest on current loans is absurd.

mystic_trev

mwpt wrote: »

Rumours (which the EC deny) of a "new plan" by Juncker.

I'm unable to post links, but most media is running with the story.

Paul Mason of C4 does hit on a point that default and grexit is an option but neither side want to be seen to initiate it.

Looks like he's put his foot in it!

http://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2015/may/18/greece-finances-default-fears-markets-live#block-5559f10fe4b02ba21134ffeb

He probably had one too many Cognacs for breakfast. :rotfl:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2664738/A-drunk-cognac-breakfast-EU-presidency-favourite-faces-explosive-claims-Cameron-prepares-showdown-Merkel-stop-taking-job.html

vivatifosi

I mentioned a couple of pages back that there had been comments on overseas travel board about Greek businesses wanting to be paid in cash.

Here's another one...
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=68432411&postcount=5

Interesting that he says they are going to do that no matter what the Greek gov't says.

tom9980

My parents are in Greece for most of the summer as they were last year, you don't get bills or receipts often anymore and cash is king as it always has been really. That's not to say the Greeks are wealthy, by and large they are poor tax avoiders just trying to live a fairly modest existence.

The town they go to has an skate park, lake, free exercise area and fountains all paid for with EU grants and loans but only now are they getting upgraded sewage systems. Most of the money seems to have been wasted by government, poor planning and public sector folly.

worldtraveller

tom9980 wrote: »

Most of the money seems to have been wasted by government, poor planning and public sector folly.

I was interested to hear an ex BBC correspondent on BBC World a few days ago who was commenting on the "rigged" entry of Greece into the eurozone and the bloated public sector. He had interviewed the head of state owned Olympic Airways prior to entry and the head had stated that he had seven chauffeurs that were employed just for him! He couldn't understand why?

In the same vein, the Greek railways were losing a billion euros a year and had more employees than passengers. A former minister said publicly at the time that it would be cheaper to send everyone by taxi!

As part of the "rigged" entry, the authorities allegedly used a neat conjuring trick to make much of the deficit & inflation "disappear" to allow entry into the eurozone. For example, the railway company would issue shares that the government would buy. So it was counted not as expenditure, but as a financial transaction and therefore didn't appear on the budget balance sheet.