Agora
Posts on April 2014
Greece's primary surplus: Much ado about nothing?
There has been some confusion about Greece's fiscal statistics this week after the size of the country's primary surplus was confirmed. This is an attempt to clear up some of the misunderstanding.
Contributor: Manos Giakoumis
Categories: Europe (279), Economy (316), Greece (477)
Are investors getting a bargain with Eurobank?
The Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) said on April 15 it approved the 1.33-billion-euro offer submitted by a consortium of investors for Eurobank’s capital increase. The approval signals the completion of the first (cornerstone investor) phase covering 46.5 percent of the announced equity raising of 2.86 billion euros.
Contributor: Manos Giakoumis
Categories: Economy (316), Greece (477)
Who benefits from Greece’s return to the markets?
Now that the euphoria is beginning to die down let’s take a second, more sober look at what Greece achieved last week when the investment community hailed the country’s return to the markets. Politicians from Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s government were quick to join the chorus of cheerleaders, with impressive support from members of the media and market analysts.
Contributor: Jens Bastian
Categories: Economy (316), Greece (477)
Has SYRIZA's moment gone?
In June 2012, SYRIZA came within 171,000 votes of winning Greece’s national elections as part of an improbable but meteoric rise from raggle-taggle band of dreamy leftists to Europe’s premier anti-austerity crusaders. At the time it seemed that, even in electoral defeat, SYRIZA and its young leader Alexis Tsipras were laying a cornerstone for something much bigger. But events since then, especially over the last couple of weeks, suggest that we may have already seen SYRIZA’s finest moment.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Politics (373), Greece (477)
Does return to markets signal end of Greek crisis? The perils of ignoring macro-economic fundamentals
Politics today is the art of shaping a narrative, with the overriding preference being for one that is in harmony with markets and investors. This narrative is currently being formulated in real time in Greece. It is centred on the much anticipated return of the Greek sovereign to international bond markets.
Contributor: Jens Bastian
Categories: Europe (279), Politics (373), Economy (316), Greece (477)