Greek workers in protest at plans for bailout-for-austerity package
Source: Agencies |
May 5, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
STRIKING public workers challenged the Greek government's bailout-for-austerity deal with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund yesterday as investors fretted about Athens' ability to push through ambitious budget cuts.
Public sector union ADEDY began a 48-hour national strike that shut down ministries, tax offices, schools, hospitals and public services, with thousands of protesters converging on parliament in the center of the Greek capital.
Police fired teargas at a small group who threw rocks and bottles at them.
"We want an end to the freefall of our living standards," said Spyros Papaspyros, the head of ADEDY, which represents about half a million workers in the Aegean nation of 11 million.
The euro slid for a second day to hit a one-year low against the dollar below US$1.31 and Greek bonds fell, pushing yield spreads with benchmark German Bunds above 600 basis points.
Jitters about whether the 110 billion euro (US$146.5 billion) aid package would be enough to stem the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis also pushed up Spanish and Portuguese spreads and hammered Spanish stocks.
"This would suggest that contagion fears have not been fully doused, with the Greece rescue terms not allaying fears of states facing similar challenges," Nomura rate strategist Sean Maloney said. Markets were spooked by an announcement from investment bank Lazard that it had been hired by the Greek government to give it financial advice. Lazard recently advised countries such as Argentina, Ecuador and the Ivory Coast on sovereign debt restructurings, a move Greece has repeatedly said it is not considering.
"Any form of debt restructuring is out of the question," Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said. "No one has been hired to advise us in this regard."
Worries that the aid package may be insufficient to meet Greece's borrowing needs have contributed to market concern. Economists at several European financial firms calculated those needs to the end of 2012 at 120 billion euros, based on IMF and Greek government figures.
European Commission officials said they expected Athens to be able to return to markets for funding in the second half of 2011 once it had won back credibility by implementing tough reforms.
But that remains a big "if," given the economic outlook and the public opposition.
Some newspapers said the bailout was more a rescue for European banks holding Greek debt than one of ordinary Greeks.
"With this aid package, we're really only aiding ourselves - we're bailing out our own banks and investors," German business daily Financial Times Deutschland said.
Public sector union ADEDY began a 48-hour national strike that shut down ministries, tax offices, schools, hospitals and public services, with thousands of protesters converging on parliament in the center of the Greek capital.
Police fired teargas at a small group who threw rocks and bottles at them.
"We want an end to the freefall of our living standards," said Spyros Papaspyros, the head of ADEDY, which represents about half a million workers in the Aegean nation of 11 million.
The euro slid for a second day to hit a one-year low against the dollar below US$1.31 and Greek bonds fell, pushing yield spreads with benchmark German Bunds above 600 basis points.
Jitters about whether the 110 billion euro (US$146.5 billion) aid package would be enough to stem the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis also pushed up Spanish and Portuguese spreads and hammered Spanish stocks.
"This would suggest that contagion fears have not been fully doused, with the Greece rescue terms not allaying fears of states facing similar challenges," Nomura rate strategist Sean Maloney said. Markets were spooked by an announcement from investment bank Lazard that it had been hired by the Greek government to give it financial advice. Lazard recently advised countries such as Argentina, Ecuador and the Ivory Coast on sovereign debt restructurings, a move Greece has repeatedly said it is not considering.
"Any form of debt restructuring is out of the question," Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said. "No one has been hired to advise us in this regard."
Worries that the aid package may be insufficient to meet Greece's borrowing needs have contributed to market concern. Economists at several European financial firms calculated those needs to the end of 2012 at 120 billion euros, based on IMF and Greek government figures.
European Commission officials said they expected Athens to be able to return to markets for funding in the second half of 2011 once it had won back credibility by implementing tough reforms.
But that remains a big "if," given the economic outlook and the public opposition.
Some newspapers said the bailout was more a rescue for European banks holding Greek debt than one of ordinary Greeks.
"With this aid package, we're really only aiding ourselves - we're bailing out our own banks and investors," German business daily Financial Times Deutschland said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
