Thursday, March 08, 2012

Deadline Day For Greek Bond Swap

Today is Deadline Day for the Greek bond swap, creditors have until 20:00 GMT to accept the deal.

However, for reasons best known to the Greek government (perhaps something to do with disruption being caused by today's solar flares?), the announcement about the outcome of the deal won't be made until 06:00 GMT Friday.

The hype, spin and misinformation continues as Greece and the Eurozone continue to talk up the prospects of a successful deal. The latest figures being bandied about suggest that there will be a 75% take up, ie 25% of bondholders have not agreed to the deal (it is speculated that hedge funds are actually buying blocking stakes). This will mean that CACs will have to be used, and Greece will officially default (as the deal will not count as "voluntary").

Aside from the legal technicalities, wrt percentages and CACs, there are also the political nuances. Anything short of 80% will be considered by the Germans as being a failure.

Oh, and irrespective of the "success" or otherwise of this deal, the grim financial reality that Greece faces was highlighted this morning by today's unemployment figures that show that 21% of the workforce were unemployed in December (youth unemployment now stands at over 51%!).

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