MILAN – Greece back to worry the international markets, given the continuing deadlock in the negotiations that are based on the exchange between international loans and economic reforms and at the same time that the money in the coffers of Athens are winding down: you the likely default on repayments that the government of Alexis Tsipras has the International Monetary Fund. Negotiators will meet again in the course of the weekend, to try to bring back within binary positive negotiations. The ‘Brussels Group’, which brings together government greek, EU Commission, ECB, IMF and Esmi, “meets the weekend starting tomorrow afternoon,” said a spokesman for the EU executive.
“It ‘been a constructive discussion on the process that must accompany the negotiations between now and the Riga Summit.” So the ECB president, Mario Draghi, said the meeting with the Minister of Finance greek, Yanis Varoufakis. On the same wave-length, Italian Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan: “We are negotiating to identify a solution. We will succeed.” “An exit of Greece from the Eurozone we would sail into uncharted waters. I am confident that we will find a common solution,” added the minister, who reassured about the soundness of Italy even in the event of a Greek default.
The work going on in view of the Eurogroup of next week in Riga, which will be an opportunity to take stock of the situation of the negotiations. But April 24, the date of the summit, the hawk German Wolfgang Scahaeuble has already ruled that we can get to something definitive to approve the reform package, the Greek side, and release 7.2 billion of loans from International. More likely to go in May to the agreement, given that a meeting could be held on the 11th.
A date that is charged with expectation. The problem for the government of Syiriza are in fact the payments due to the IMF, until now duly honored. In the first half of May, however, there are nearly 1 billion Euros to be repaid for loans of the past: its a deadline set for May 12 weighs approximately 750 million euro. Money that at that point you would find in most public houses in Athens. And given that the IMF has made it known to the emissaries Greek there is no way to spread payments – Christine Lagarde has returned to a request to that effect – the countdown is more accelerated than ever. According to the Reuters , in cash now would remain only 2 billion. Moreover, adds today the body of Washington, in the future will only get worse: “I have no detailed information on the liquidity of Greece, but in June, July and August the amount that Athens will have to pay will increase significantly and need an agreement before, “said Poul Thomsen, head of the European department of the IMF, during a lecture as part of the spring work in the US. From there he also announced that the estimates on economic growth are “unrealistic” and will be revised downward from the current 2.5% in 2015 and 3.7% in 2016.
The European commissioner Economic Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, from Washington always said that there is no “plan B” for Athens, urging it to “speed up” in terms of reforms or risk default. The talks “were not precise enough. It is not that we are talking about nothing, but we are discussing now is the time to move forward,” he explained to the Financial Times , noting that a “Grexit would be a bad for the Eurozone, for the Greeks and for the financial system. ” Varoufakis met meanwhile, Mario Draghi, the ECB president, that the Minister of Finance “wants a solution soon to help Greece to grow.”
Even banks, on the other hand, live their liquidity problems: the Greek press writes today that banks “are bleeding” because of the constant withdrawals at the counter of the users, intimidated by the risk of a possible default public. According to Kathimerini , the Greeks have now accumulated a total of 15 billion euro that prefer to keep cash rather than on its current account. Bank deposits amounted to over 160 billion in December last year but at the end of March, the figure had dropped to 135 billion, a new low for the last ten years because of the massive cash withdrawals in January (12.8 billion), in February ( 7.6 billion) and in March (5.5 billion).
On the domestic front, meanwhile, the government of Syriza continues on the path traced in the election campaign: Monday will present the bill to increase in two times the minimum wage to 751 euro, the level in force until 2012, and restore collective bargaining. This was announced by the Minister of Labour greek, Panos Skurletis, speaking on the private channel Ant1 . Skurletis has hinted that, in his opinion, the measure does not involve any cost. However, the European partners are asking the full liberalization of the possibility of fire. “Imagine that means talking about layoffs in Greece, a country that is a champion in terms of unemployment,” said Skurletis. “The government will not back down on some issues that considers red lines,” he added. The previous coalition government, led by conservative Antonis Samaras, had canceled the collective bargaining. The cut in the minimum wage to 586 Euros, or 511 for those under 25, was imposed in 2012 by the Troika (EU, ECB and IMF). In Athens there is also the evacuation by the poliozia, the offices of the Rector of the University, which had been occupied 19 days ago by a group of anarchists.
No comments:
Post a Comment