Thursday, April 30, 2015

More Unfounded Greek Optimism


Such were the headlines this time last week, just before last Friday's car crash of a Eurogroup meeting!

Greek Pension Cuts Unconstitutional

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Banquo's Ghost


Varoufakis claims that he is still in charge of Greece's debt "negotiations".

Greek Banks Have EU3BN of Liquidity Left

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Greece Warns Holidaymakers To Take Cash

Despite the recent rearrangement of the deckchairs on the sinking Trireme, wrt the sidelining of Varoufakis, Greece is still very much on the precipice.

Municipalities have refused to comply with the central government's smash and grab raid on local cash reserves, and have demanded to know what the cash will be used for and whether Syriza will be honouring its election pledges.

Faced with the reality of capital controls and bank runs, the Greek tourist board in London has advised holidaymakers going to Greece to take euros in notes and coins in case then ATMs are switched off (which seems very likely in the not too distant future).

The Foreign & Commonwealth Office has weighed in, and said that travellers should take "enough money to cover emergencies and any unexpected delays".

It is going to be long hot summer in Athens this year!

Monday, April 27, 2015

Varoufakis To Be Thrown Under The Bus

It would appear that despite the fact that he welcomes hatred, Varoufakis has managed to piss off everyone to such an extent that Tsipras is rearranging the deckchairs of his negotiating team even though the Greek trireme is rapidly sinking beneath the waves.

This rearrangement is somewhat late in the day and will not be enough to save the situation.

Greek Bank Run Continues

According to Bloomberg Greek households and companies withdrew almost 1.3 billion euros in savings from Greek banks last week.

Unsurprisingly the Greek government is beginning to "fret" about the situation (albeit two months too late). Bild reported today that Tsipras asked Merkel to convene an emergency European Union leaders’ summit. Needless to say a Greek government spokesman denied the report.

I dare say that the denial is based on the fact that Merkel refused. Quite rightly so, as she has repeatedly told Tsipras that the decision for providing finance to Greece is not in her gift, but in the hands of the Troika.

Tsipras's attempts to short circuit the Troika simply serve to further isolate the country from its European "partners".

Friday, April 24, 2015

Two Days Is a Long Time In The Greek Tragedy

Varoufakis The Gambler and Time Waster

Greece will be back on the agenda again in May, as fuck all was achieved today.

 EPIC FAIL!

Riga Meeting Summary


Unfriendly and fuck all progress.

No surprises there then!

No Greek Deal



As expected, and contrary to the fantasy headlines being pushed by Greece, there will be no deal or even a sniff of a deal in Riga today.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

No Breakthrough Expected At Riga

Contrary to Greece's fantasy, there will be no breakthrough at Riga.

Greece Loses Touch With Reality


A remarkable degree of optimism being displayed by Greece, given that it hasn't submitted an acceptable list of reforms and that the ECB is planning for a haircut!

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Greece Will Not Present List of Reforms

Thomas Wieser, who heads the Eurogroup Working Group, has said that Greece will not present a list of economic reforms to euro zone finance ministers on Friday

It never had any intention of doing so, the laughable 6 day deadline has long since passed as has any credibility that this process might have once had!

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

ECB Losing Patience With Greece

Bloomberg reports that the European Central Bank is studying measures to rein in Emergency Liquidity Assistance to Greek banks, as resistance to further aiding the country’s stricken lenders grows in the Governing Council.

ECB staff have produced a proposal to increase the haircuts banks take on the collateral they post when borrowing from the Bank of Greece.

While the measure hasn’t been formally discussed by the Governing Council, it may be considered if Greece’s leaders fail to quickly convince euro-area finance ministers they can reform their economy and secure bailout funds.

Monday, April 20, 2015

Greece - Nothing Achieved!


Abject failure by anyone's standard of measurement!

Greece Misses Deadline Again!

On 9th April I wrote the following:
"As per Reuters:

"Euro zone deputy finance ministers gave Athens a six working day deadline to come up with revised reform proposals to enable a deal to be reached at a Eurogroup meeting on April 24."
Greece doesn't believe in deadlines, and the rest of the world has given up on these particular deadlines.

Do not expect anything tangible to be produced by the deadline!"
Fast forward to 20th April and, surprise surprise, nothing tangible has been produced by Greece!

The IMF has made some bleating noises about being "hopeful", but Greece has reiterated that it will not cross its electoral "red lines".

Like it or not, Greece has no intention of producing a reform list that is either coherent or acceptable to the Troika. The IMF and other bodies must now face reality, Greece will default and there is nothing that can be done to avoid that.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Why Did Bloomberg Crash?


Yesterday's Bloomberg outage caused chaos in global financial markets.

Despite the fact that Bloomberg stated that their multi system back didn't kick in, as was self evident, no one has yet publicly stated why the system crashed.

The questions stands, why did Bloomberg crash?

Friday, April 17, 2015

Schauble Washes His Hands of Greece

Wolfgang Schauble, quoted by the Telegraph, has washed his hands of Greece:
"If they want to find money somewhere else, whether in Moscow, or Beijing, or New York, that's fine, we'll be happy.

We will not help a country that refuses to help itself. If Greece wants the next disbursement of €1.8bn, it must fulfil what is agreed. That is called the Memorandum of Understanding."
Over and out!

NatWest Mobile App Issue





Those of you having problems with your NatWest app may need to follow the steps outlined in the Twitter exchange above.

Greece's Hail Mary


Still attempting a political solution, and avoiding facing the Troika.

This will fail.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Grexit Odds On Cert

Greece Planning To Default and Grexit

Yannis Koutsomitis reports that Greek officials have made an informal approach to the IMF to delay repayments of loans to the international lender, highlighting the parlous state of Greek finances, but were told that no rescheduling was possible.

According to officials briefed on the talks by both sides, Athens was persuaded not to make a specific request for a delay to the Fund, which is owed almost a €1bn in two separate payments due in May.

However, this is something that Greece is now denying.
Whilst a denial is all very well, the reality is that Varoufakis will (as per City A.M.) on Friday (on the tail end of his last chance saloon meeting with Obama) meet with infamous sovereign debt lawyer Lee Buchheit, who has helped numerous countries restructure their debt. Buchheit is a partner at top US law firm Cleary Gottlieb.

Varoufakis is clearly not meeting Buchheit to talk about the weather!

Greece has of course denied that it is planning to leave the euro.

We must of course disregard the denial and look to the reality, Greece is quite evidently planning to:

- Default
- Exit, and
- Devalue its soon to be reintroduced Drachma

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

The Greek Master Class On How To Win Friends and Influence People


1 Join the eurozone by fiddling the books.

2 Borrow an exorbitant amount of money from people, which you know you can't pay back.

3 Don't bother collecting taxes.

4 Blame everyone else for your predicament.

5 Claim an exorbitant amount in war reparations from one of your fellow eurozone members.

6 Miss all deadlines.

7 Publicly slag off fellow eurozone members, especially Germany.

8 Put together a slapdash list of half baked "reform" measures in Greek. but not in any other eurozone language.

9 Threaten to write off "illegal" debt.

10 Threaten to default and call an election if the your creditors don't come to terms with you.

Job done!

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Grexit

Greece is preparing for a final showdown with its creditors in the coming days and, if media reports are accurate, will default and hold a snap election if it fails to reach an agreement with its creditors.

Suffice to say Greece has denied these reports.

However, its creditors are no longer in any mood to "play nice" and will view this as an attempt to push for better terms and conditions, an attempt that will be refuted.

Greece's days in the eurozone are numbered, the only question is whether it will leave on its own terms or be pushed out.

Monday, April 13, 2015

The Greek Taxi Driver


Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) reported over the weekend that euro zone officials were "shocked" at Greece's failure to outline detailed structural reforms and its demands for cash at talks in Brussels last week. According to FAS, the sources said Greece's representative asked where the money was "like a taxi driver" and insisted his country would soon be bankrupt.

Suffice to say Greece's finance ministry has dismissed the report, saying it was inaccurate and undermined ongoing negotiations.

Irrespective of the accuracy or otherwise of the tax driver comment, Greece has yet to come up with a coherent, viable and auditable reform plan. Hence, it is certain that the euro group is feeling very frustrated at the delays.

Thursday, April 09, 2015

Greece's Six day Deadline

As per Reuters:
"Euro zone deputy finance ministers gave Athens a six working day deadline to come up with revised reform proposals to enable a deal to be reached at a Eurogroup meeting on April 24."
Greece doesn't believe in deadlines, and the rest of the world has given up on these particular deadlines.

Do not expect anything tangible to be produced by the deadline!

Greek Easter Bank Holiday

Greek banks will be on Easter holidays later today.

Prepare for an announcement from the Greek government when the markets close.

Greece's Illegal Debt


Meaning that the terms and conditions requested by Russia were not what Greece can currently accede to, and that Greece has a much better plan.

What is the plan?

To write off the debt that it regards as "illegal"!

How will it determine what is "illegal"?

Via the Debt Truth Committee.

Simples!

Greece Pays On Time

Wednesday, April 08, 2015

Greek Government Is Stupid

Sigmar Gabriel German Economy Minister and Vice chancellor has called Greece's Euro278BN war reparations demand "stupid".

Quite so!

Not only will Germany not pay it, but the demand has wasted/destroyed what political capital, time and sympathy others may have for Greece.

Thus it is not not just the demand that is "stupid", but the Greek government as well.

Tsipras In Moscow


The only reason that Greece hasn't asked Russia for aid, is because Russia has already offered loans etc.

Tuesday, April 07, 2015

Germany Rejects Greece's Reparations Demand


It goes without saying that Germany has rejected this.

Mr Tsipras Goes To Moscow

Greece is now playing its last hand, designed to try to force the Troika's hand.

It won't work!

Monday, April 06, 2015

Varoufakis Speaks


"should be found"..lest we ask Russia!

Sunday, April 05, 2015

Varoufakis To Meet Lagarde


Friday, April 03, 2015

Shut The Door Behind You Greece

Thursday, April 02, 2015

Varoufakis Plays The Blame Game


Leaked or not, it doesn't detract from the fact that the Troika has rejected the list of reforms as being inadequate and woolly.

Wednesday, April 01, 2015

Greece Is Overoptimistic


I think that Greece is being way too overoptimistic, it will most likely run out of money before the end of April.