The Trouble With Greece

By Author: b20coalition
Total Articles: 3
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Greece has not received any loans from the Eurozone or the IMF since August 2014.
There is now a real danger that the country will run out of money and this is a grave concern for European governments and the markets.

In fact from the point of view of many of its citizens, Greece is already broke.Pensioners are not receiving their pensions on time because the government is struggling to find enough money to meet pension claims and employees in the public sector are now used to receiving their salaries as much as one or two months late.

Even hospitals are hit with on-call payments for doctors being severely in arrears. Hospital suppliers that provide everything from syringes to X-ray machines said recently that they may soon be forced to stop supplying hospitals.

There is money in the bail-out fund for Greece - €7.2bn (£5.3bn; $8bn) to be exact but creditors refuse to release further funds unless the Greek government agrees to demands for reforms, spending cuts and tax increases.

In order to survive without access to the bail-out funds Athens has resorted to extraordinary measures such as ...
... forced transfer of the cash reserves of public sector entities such as regional governments and pension funds to the central government.

The urgency of the situation appears to have had little impact on either the Greek government or the EU.

The cabinet in Athens last week failed to approve new reforms and tax increases that it needs to convince Eurozone finance ministers to unlock loans at their next scheduled meeting on 11 May.

Greece was not mentioned in the Communique issued after the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors after their meeting in April, however delegates expressed concern about whether Athens could agree on new bailout terms with its creditors in time to avoid defaulting on imminent payments. The potential impact of the Greek situation on the Eurozone’s fragile growth was the subject of some gloomy discussions.