Markets Up and Down as Greece Defaults

Markets Up and Down as Greece Defaults.

At 10 pm last night, Greece officially defaulted on its debts repayment of €1.6bn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Even at the last minute, the Greeks were asking for an extension which was rejected. Technically, this means that all lines of ‘credit’ now for Greece are closed. The banks have opened today as special ‘one off’ for pensioners who do not have ATM cards to allow them to withdraw up to €120 per week, and those with ATM’s can still withdraw up to €60 per day. Sooner or later, money will run out - this is a dangerous game of financial 'poker' they are all playing.

Conference calls

Unbelievably, Eurozone finance ministers appear to be having conference calls to try and resolve the position and yet another deal is on the table with the Greeks requesting a new restructured €29bn aid programme, which again will be discussed in a conference call at 3.30pm today. €29bn over the telephone? Unbelievable!

Markets Swing

Stock markets swing up and down every hour or so as new rumours and announcements are made. We suggest this will be the case all week and then we must wait and see as the Greek people go to the polls on Sunday to vote on the referendum as to whether to accept the austerity measures (spending cuts) suggested by EU/IMF creditors such as changes to State Pension Age to age 67 sooner, cutting back on lower income benefits and introducing structured VAT on goods and services with rates varying for different items all the way up to a standard VAT rat of 23%. In UK we have VAT at 20% and State Pension Age at 67 coming soon, why should the Greeks not have similar structures to UK and other EU nations?

More Debts to Repay

The Greek Prime Minister wants the people to vote “no” to give them a stronger hand in negotiations with a threat that an EU exit could move other indebted countries to do the same, the Greek Central Bank needs a “yes” vote to enable funds to be released to shore up the banking sector and ensure money is available for the people. Greece is due to repay the European Central Bank €3.5bn by the 20^th July plus further payments in August on top of the IMF €1.6bn that they have just defaulted on.

Unbelievable!

We can only repeat: €29bn over the telephone? Unbelievable! We expect another ‘crazy’ few days yet.