Greece Archives - Page 10 of 16

Five Signs That Greece Is On The Road To Recovery

The long-troubled Greek economy successfully returned to international bond markets this month with relative success. Having been at the centre of the European debt crisis, how important is Greece’s recovery to the region?

There has been much skepticism about Greece’s fiscal progress and interim reports suggesting that it was recording a budget surplus when debt servicing, and one-off factors were excluded, were greeted with scorn. And even some of those accepting that it had recorded a primary budget surplus warned that this will increase the likelihood of a default.

Greece Returns To Bond Markets After Four-Year Exile

The long-troubled Greek economy successfully returned to international bond markets on Thursday, raising 3 billion euros ($4.2 billion) from bond issues, with nearly 90 percent of the sum coming from foreign investors.

“Greece today took one more decisive step toward exiting the crisis,” said Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in a televised address afterward. “International markets are now expressing in the most undoubted way possible their confidence in the Greek economy.”

Greece May Need Two More Bailouts: ECB Official

Greece could require two more bailouts to keep its economy afloat, warned European Central Bank Governing Council member Luc Coene on Wednesday, though he remained confident that the worst of the eurozone crisis was already over, reported Reuters.

Greece Suicide Rate Up 45 Percent Between 2007-11: Study

Suicides in Greece spiked dramatically during the first four years of the financial crisis, said a mental health aid group on Tuesday, warning that there were indications of a further “very large rise” over the last two years.

Using data from the Greek Statistical Authority, the Athens-based group Klimaka found that officially reported suicides had risen steadily between 2007 and 2011, accounting for a 45 percent in deaths during that period – from 328 to 477 per annum.

Greece May Require Third Bailout in 2014

Officials from the European Central Bank arrived in Athens on Wednesday for a check on whether Greece was meeting conditions for a scheduled tranche of aid in October, a visit that comes a day after German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble admitted that Greece will need a third bailout soon to stay afloat.

Schauble did not specify what form the new aid should take, but ruled out a write-down on Greece’s public debt, which is now mainly bailout loans owed to other European governments.

Greece Recession Eases As Government Eyes 2013 Budget Surplus

Greece’s economy shrank by 4.6 percent on an annual basis in the second quarter, marking a gradual deceleration of the country’s longest recorded recession, while the government reported a surplus for the first seven months of the year, official data showed on Monday.

While the contraction in Q2 marked a 20^th consecutive quarterly decline, officials say it was an improvement from the first quarter of 2013, when the economy contracted 5.6 percent compared with a year earlier.

Greece To Receive $2.3bn IMF Bailout Payment

The International Monetary Fund on Monday approved a further 1.7 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in aid payments to Greece after completing a review of the country’s finances, but warned Athens must do more to implement reforms in light of looming shortfalls.

Greece last week adopted the last piece of legislation its international lenders required to release the lastest batch of rescue loans, after two months of wrangling over unpopular measures to overhaul the economy.

EU Officials Threaten To Hold Back Funds As Greece Fails To Enact Reforms

European Union and International Monetary Fund officials may freeze bailout payments to Greece worth 8.1 billion euros for three months, said a senior eurozone official on Wednesday, after Athens failed to enact necessary reforms and cuts to its bloated public sector.

Greece Shuts Public Broadcaster in Cost-Cutting Exercise

Under pressure from its international creditors to cut public spending, the Greek government on Tuesday announced the shutdown of state-run television and radio broadcaster ERT, which it called a “haven of waste”, idling some 2,900 employees that make up less than 1 percent of the public workforce.

At midnight, all three channels produced by Greek Radio and Television, known as ERT, went off the air and will remain dark pending an overhaul that is expected to last several months and trim about 100 million euros from the annual state budget.

Russia’s Gazprom Pulls Out of Greek Gas Deal

Greece’s troubled privatisation programme suffered a massive blow on Monday after Russian energy giant Gazprom withdrew its interest in the country’s gas monopoly Depa, citing concerns about the company’s viability, while the country’s gas grid operator Desfa received only a single bid.

Gazprom had been the most prominent of five possible contenders for Depa and Greece had pinned hopes on a Gazprom bid to revive interest in the sale.