Greece is slowly restoring its credit-worthiness. Very slowly. The firm Fitch’s raised the country’s long-term assessment one notch to ‘B-’ on May 14, removing it from being at risk of default, citing progress in balancing the country’s finances and improving its trade competitiveness. The Greek economy is rebalancing: clear progress has been made towards eliminating [...]
Tag Archives | Eurozone
Samaras Says Grexit Talk Over
Citing what he said was a coming turnaround and even a return to markets by next year under his tenure, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said that talk of the country being forced out of the Eurozone, a so-called Grexit, and back to the drachma because of a still-lingering economic crisis is dead. Speaking at [...]
Greece Eyes Loans, Samaras Heading To China
On a roll, the Greek government is hoping that Eurozone officials on May 13 will approval release of more loans as Prime Minister Antonis Samaras readies for a five-day trip to China beginning two days later in a bid to woo investment and tourists. Samaras, not having to worry about the same kind of social [...]
EU Sees Smaller GDP Drop For Greece
Greece’s economy may shrink 4.2 percent this year instead of 4.4 percent, an almost negligible difference if it’s correct, the European Commission has re-estimated, but could return to a 0.6 percent growth next year. Most every previous estimate has been wrong. Still, the EU said it expects Greece’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the Eurozone [...]
Eurogroup OK’s 2.8B Euros For Greece
Satisfied with passage of a multi-faceted bill that will lead to the removal of 15,000 public workers over the next two years, the Eurogroup of Eurozone finance officials on April 29 approved the release of a 2.8 billion euros ($3.5 billion) installment that had been delayed since March. The coalition government of Prime Minister Antonis [...]
Out On Bail, Papantoniou Glad For Euro
Yannos Papantoniou, a former Greek finance minister who propelled the country into the euro 11 years ago – and who is now being investigated over a secret Swiss bank account – said he’s not sorry Greece switched to a currency that skyrocketed prices and put the country under the oversight of lenders who had to [...]
Cyprus Partly Eases Capital Controls
Cyprus has further eased capital controls imposed last month to prevent a run on deposits, raising the threshold for transactions that do not require prior approval by the central bank, the finance ministry said on Thursday. With the latest decree, Cyprus has permitted transactions up to 500,000 euros [$650,300] domestically without prior vetting, the ministry [...]
The Economic Assassins Who Killed Cyprus
Cypriots by all accounts are a resilient people and yet, one wonders why this small island has never enjoyed peace. Disraeli, the first Jewish minister of Britain, described Cyprus to Queen Victoria in 1878 as, “This jewel of the Med is the key to western Asia” and wanted to formulate the island as a “defensive [...]
Inspection Finds Greek Workers No-Shows
With the Greek government backing off commitments to fire up to 8,000 public workers who are disciplinary problems, have committed felonies, faked their credentials, are insubordinate or present problems in other areas, surprise inspections of ministries and and state organizations show as many as 20 percent of civil servants don’t bother to come to work. [...]
Labor Cost in Greece Drops Dramatically
In the last four years, the labor cost per hour in Greece dropped by 11.2 percent according to data Eurostat published on April 10. According to Eurostat, Greece is the only country in the Eurozone where the cost of the workday declined in the years 2008-2012. More precisely, in 2008, the labor cost per hour [...]
Provopoulos Says Greek Deposits Safe
With media speculation that the apparently abandoned proposed merger of National Bank of Greece and Eurobank could lead to the government going after bank deposits as Cyprus did, the head of the central bank, George Provopoulos, reiterated that all bank accounts are safe regardless of how big they are. Cyprus is confiscating up to 80 [...]
Turkey: Cyprus Crisis is Chance to End Division
Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Wednesday the financial crisis in Cyprus presented an “important opportunity” to end the division of the island, split between the Greek Cypriot south and Turkish north. The Mediterranean island concluded a $13 billion bailout deal with the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday in order to [...]
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05 / 23 Ukrainians Flock to Crete
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05 / 23 Political Feud Holds Up Anti-Racism Bill
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05 / 23 Velos Mutiny Honored in Special Ceremony
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05 / 23 Extension of Tourist Season for Ios
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05 / 23 German Party Likes Greek Euro Exit
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Calendar – Exhibits, Concerts, Fun
- Contemporary Theatrical Adaptation of Homer’s Iliad May 22, 2013
- A Greek Portfolio at The Benaki Museum May 22, 2013
- Greek-By-Choice Pedro Olalla Honored May 20, 2013
- AHEPA Day Celebration Hosted In Athens May 20, 2013
