...CRISIS IN GREECE: STUDY OF THE FACTORS THAT LED TO THE CRISIS. A Research Paper: Under The Guidance of:Dr Somesh Kumar Mathur Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur Pankaj Kumar Y8333 Sanchit Singhal Y8442 Sulabh Boudh Y8513 INTRODUCTION Greece is currently facing a very severe crisis, with expectations of a sovereign default as Greece confronts with the second highest budget deficit, as well as the second highest debt to GDP ratio in the EU. The paper uses insights from the literature to offer an analytical treatment of the crisis in Greece. The crisis itself is very likely to be a result of: The gradual worsening of Greek macroeconomic Fundamentals over 2000-2009 to levels discrepant with other EU members. A shift in market expectations, from a scenario of credible commitment to future EU participation to a scenario of non-credible EU commitment without fiscal guarantees, respectively occurring in November 2009 and February/March 2010. The pricing by markets of a (previously nonexistent) default risk that follows the withdrawal of an implicit guarantee on Greek debt by other EMU countries (mainly Germany). Interestingly, our account of the 3 factors sparking and escalating the crisis also helps explain why prices on Greek government bonds have not recovered but continued to plummet following the announcement of the EU/IMF rescue plan. Our analysis suggests that the involvement of an external institution like the...
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...27.12.2011 Sovereign Debt Crisis - Greece vs. Argentina Everyday more and more headlines are being filled with the debt crisis in Europe. But the center stage of the developments in Europe is being taken away by Greece. As Greece is being basically bankrupt, its expenses are way bigger than its obligations; it is also being supported by the EU because of the fear of consequences from its collapse. Analyzing a Bloomberg article, about two economists, and their view of the Greece debt crisis, I found out that they tried to compare the “Greece crisis” with Argentina’s default in 2001. They argued about two lessons concerning how and what could Greece possibly go through. According to the article “the first lesson has to do with the timing and size of the debt exchange”. As I figured out it is about building up the solvency for the debt in way to get access to capital markets. First of all in the article it says that “Greece and its private creditors have been invited to implement a bond exchange with a nominal discount, or haircut, of 50 percent of face value”. This voluntary agreement they also call the default. So in order to do the right thing, the Greece attempt to extend the debt relief beyond the 50% haircut agreed upon, should be assessed by someone. Also it is argued that the faster Greece starts contributing solutions instead of delaying their problem they will be able to begin normalizing the relationship with capital markets. The second lesson as said in the article...
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...EUROPEAN DEBT CRISIS – ORIGIN, CONSEQUENCES AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS F RA N TI Š E K N E M E T H Abstract What is the European debt crisis? As the head of the Bank of England referred to it in October 2011, it is “the most serious financial crisis at least since the 1930s, if not ever.”1 In fact, the European debt crisis is the shorthand term for the region’s struggle to pay the debts it has built up in recent decades. Five of the region’s countries – Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, and Spain – have, to varying degrees, failed to generate enough economic growth to make their ability to pay back bondholders the guarantee it’s intended to be. Although these five were seen as being the countries in immediate danger of a possible default, the crisis has far-reaching consequences that extend beyond their borders to the world as a whole. Introduction The global economy has experienced slow growth since the U.S. financial crisis of 2008-2009, which has exposed the unsustainable fiscal policies of countries in Europe and around the globe. Greece, which spent heartily for years and failed to undertake fiscal reforms, was one of the first to feel the pinch of weaker growth. When growth slows, so do tax revenues – making high budget deficits unsustainable. Greece's economy has struggled since the country joined the euro in 2001. In 2004, it admitted its budget deficit was higher than allowed under rules of entry. By 2008 the government had narrowly passed a belt-tightening budget...
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...Debt Crisis? By Thomas Kenny, About.com Guide See More About: * economics * europe * bonds ------------------------------------------------- Ads LIC Pension 1.45 करोड़छोटा निवेश जो आपको करोड़पति बनाये = PensionPolicyBazaar.com/PureInvestment Mobile Trading On-the-GoTrade Forex, Commodities, CFDs. Low Fixed Spread, Start Now!www.4xp.com/Mobile What is Sensex?You don’t need tuitions to learn. The First Step Kit teaches enough.Sharekhan.Sharekhan-Firststep.com Bonds Ads * Bonds * Debt * European Crisis * Type of Bonds * AAA Corporate Bonds ------------------------------------------------- Ads Investment CalculatorA Free, Safe & Simplified Tool for Managing Your Money. Try It Now!www.perfios.com/managingyourmoney Looking for Major Debt?Find Major Debt on Facebook. Sign Up Free Now!www.Facebook.com The European debt crisis is the shorthand term for the region’s struggle to pay the debts it has built up in recent decades. Five of the region’s countries – Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, and Spain – have, to varying degrees, failed to generate enough economic growth to make their ability to pay back bondholders the guarantee it’s intended to be. Although these five were seen as being the countries in immediate danger of a possible default, the crisis has far-reaching consequences that extend beyond their borders to the world as a whole. In fact, the head of the Bank of England referred to it as “the most serious financial crisis at least...
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...Concordia University – School of Management MBA – 506 The Euro in Crisis: Decision Time at the European Central Bank LaRisha Baker Professor: Tom DiCorcia November 30th, 2014 Introduction The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central bank for Europe's single currency, the euro. Its main task is to maintain the euro's purchasing power and maintain price stability in the euro area. The euro area comprises of 18 European Union (EU) countries, of which Greece is included (European Central Bank, n.d.). As the EBC holds extraordinary decision-making power, this will in effect have an impact on the financial economy of Greece. From this case analysis, the ECB must decide whether to purchase or to not purchase Greek sovereign debt (Trumbull, Roscini & Choi, 2011). The Problem After the sub-prime mortgage burst in the United States, this sent reverberating shock waves throughout world economies. As the US economy tightened, economies around the world were also affected; adversely affected highly leveraged banks in the Eurozone. Though providing financial bailouts were against the Eurozone philosophy, with fear looming that Greece would default on its debt, this put pressure on Eurozone members to intervene (Trumbull, Roscini & Choi, 2011). For the euro to maintain stability, a bailout for Greece was imminent. If no Greek bailout were made available, this could potentially upset the stability of the entire EU and the euro. The ECB had been slow to act, in part...
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...the euro-zone crisis – causes, the crisis and reformation policies (with special reference to greece) the euro-zone ‘The Eurozone’ is the nickname commonly used to describe the member states that use the EU’s single currency, the Euro. The idea of creating a single currency for the European Community was first mentioned in the 1970 Werner report, which led to the establishing of the European Monetary System (EMS), the forerunner of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The Maastricht Treaty (1992) made EMU a part of EU law and set out a plan to introduce the single currency (the Euro) by 1999. The Maastricht Treaty also established certain budgetary and monetary rules for countries wishing to join the EMU (known as the convergence criteria). In 1998, 11 member states (Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Austria and Finland) undertook the final stage of EMU when they adopted a single exchange rate, which was set by the European Central Bank (Britain, Sweden and Denmark negotiated an opt-out from this final states of EMU). The new Euro notes and coins were launched on 1 January 2002. There are currently 16 EU states in the Eurozone. Greece joined the initial 11 members in 2001, Slovenia joined in 2007, Cyprus and Malta in 2008, and Slovakia joined in 2009. Estonia is due to join the Eurozone in 2011. All future members of the EU must adopt the Euro when they fulfil the convergence criteria. Economic and Monetary Union...
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...THE IDEA OF ETHICS AND THE EUROZONE CRISIS Prepared for: Ms. Homayara L. Ahmed Assistant Professor Prepared by: Bijon Islam (Roll: 21) Faruk Ahmed (Roll: 20) EMBA 14th Batch IBA, Dhaka January 04, 2012 January 04, 2012 Ms. Homayara L. Ahmed Assistant Professor Institute of Business Administration University of Dhaka Sub: Term Paper Submission- The Idea of Ethics and the Eurozone Crisis Dear Madam: Thank you for giving us the opportunity for working on such an exciting topic. Looking at the Eurozone crisis from an ethical perspective reveals several insightful and interesting insights including a look into the idea of equality among the member states, financial camouflage practices and the focus on immediate gains both in private sector and at national level. We have tried to map out such factors that have contributed to ethics mismanagement among the euro member states which have finally culminated into the crisis. We hope that you enjoy reading this paper as much as we did writing this and look forward to your views. Please feel free to contact us anytime if you feel the need for any additional support that we may provide. Kind Regards Bijon Islam – Roll 21 (EMBA 14) Faruk Ahmed – Roll 20 (EMBA 14) pg. 1 CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................................................3 1. A. B. C. D. E. 2. A. B. 3. A. B. C. D. E. F. 4. 5. 6. THE STORY...
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...Introduction Over the last 12 months, the excessive sovereign debt problems in Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain which all are members of European Union led to a crisis in the global financial system. As the European Monetary Union members use the Euro as the common currency, they do not have abilities to use independent monetary policy, the solution of this debt crisis which can influence the whole global financial system becomes to difficult to be found. Chart 1: How country debts and budget deficits compare [pic] Source: Eurostat Newsrelease Euroindicators 2010 According to the Chart 1 above, the debt of Italy is 115.8% of GDP and Greece (115.1% of GDP) is closely followed, while Ireland has the highest budget deficit of 14.3% of GDP and next is Greece (13.6% of GDP). However, the European Union member states were required to have 3% for the ratio of the actual government deficit to GDP as market prices and 60% for the ratio of government debt to GDP at market prices (Treaty on European Union, 1992). It is clear that all member states shown above broke the standard of Treaty on European Union and have excessive deficit and debt relate to the GDP. Government debt is defined as the government borrowing in order to satisfy the short-term liquidity needs or the longer-term budget capital expenditures (Edirisuriya, 2010). The government debt usually can be caused as an accumulated governmental deficit over several years or several decades. A large scale of...
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...Paper Greece is one of the most affected country’s that entered into the European Union because the unification of the economies of the sovereign states in the region known as Europe is limiting their ability to emerge from their own financial crisis. In-order for Greece to devise a solution to their current national debt they must negotiate with the leaders of the European Union to create terms that will allow them the ability to correct their economy. However, the social unrest that this delay of negotiations is causing continues to inhibit Greece from moving forward in-order to restore stability to their country. Russia is interested in helping the country, but this would violate the terms set by the EU; plus the population of Greece is split between the ideas of removing itself from the European Union and entering into another agreement with other nations such as Russia. The Unification of Greece into the Union was not the creation of their financial issues, but is hindering the ability of the country to correct it in-order to help its citizens. The country is experiencing tremendous instability in their banking system due to the distrust of the people losing their money in the banks because the government fears that if they do not freeze the people’s accounts a rush to withdraw their cash will occur once the announcement after June, 2015 passes that a resolution for Greece’s debt was not agreed upon (Reguly, 2015). The financial crisis has not only hindered...
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...Tom Fernandez Professor James Terry HIST-102-H1 25 April 2013 The 2003-2007 real estate boom which led to the eventual 2008 meltdown of the U.S. financial markets unfortunately was not contained to the big banks and investment firms based mostly in New York City. By the time bailouts were implemented by the United States government, the effects of the financial crisis were exported to Europe. States similar, but not limited to Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain (PIIGS) have each been in the media spotlight in recent years as attempts to rescue their respective financial markets are implemented. Unfortunately, many efforts made by Eurozone member states and other international actors have failed in alleviating the financial stresses of the region. Considering this, then, is there really a permanent solution that can not only relieve financial markets but also prevent the crises from spreading? To date, the European Unions’ collective response up to this point has been insufficient in order to curb the further slide into Europe’s second recession. I contend, then, that Europe and the Euro would greatly benefit from following many if not all of Germany’s internal budgetary constraints in order to fix the overall problem of debt and spending. One of original intentions of the euro when it was established in 1992 was to limit the amount of budget deficit a sovereign member state could have. Furthermore, the euro was designed to prevent a “bailout” should a state be...
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...This essay will talk about what is currently going in Europe with the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis and the fiscal state the European Union is in, it is important and interesting because it is still current affairs and there are various factors and decisions that have helped the path that the crisis is going in, this essay will look at the crisis but on the implications and problems that European union face as well as what they have faced already and whether the European Central Bank are doing enough to improve the situation and what their plans are for the future. A sovereign bond serves as a floor for interest rates banks charged for loans and for the pricing of other financial contracts and securities. The global financial crisis led to the deterioration of government budgets and finances as nations utilized public expenditures to provide stability and stimulus. The Eurozone suffered because of heavy borrowing practices, property pebbles and living above their means. The Eurozone debt crisis started because Greece who had borrowed heavily in international capital markets over the past decade were turned against by investors this is because Greece in 2009 admitted that they had double the amount of debt that was allowed in the Eurozone limit. Ratings agencies started to downgrade Greek bank and government debt, and there was fear of Greece defaulting and not being able to pay back its debts but the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou insisted otherwise however this was...
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...Doing Business in Greece Introduction Greece is an extraordinary country rich in ancient civilization, famous for giving birth to democracy! According to (Business culture, 2014) Greece is an open economy that relies heavily on the service sector, while the remaining national output comes from the industry and agricultural sectors. On top of that Greece is still a significant agricultural and fisheries producer for Europe, but the tourist industry will always be the basis of the Greek economy, which Greece ranks 7th in the most visited countries in EU. It is approximately the same size as New York. It is located in southeastern part of Europe, hanging right down by the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, just east of Italy. Greek culture is rich in dramas, rhetoric, music, and philosophy dating back to Greece’s classical era. It is home to the mythological characters and their popular stories world-wide, The Greek Gods and Goddesses that we’ve watch in multiple movies and cartoon shows growing up, originated from this beautiful country. The most recent highlight from Greece is Sparta, the Hollywood movie 300, which showcases the historical connection between Greece and Persia. Greece finally became an independent nation in the 1800’s, joined the European community in 1981, and became a member of the economic/monetary union at the beginning of 2001 before their economic downfall. Demographics As stated in (Konstandaras, 2013) the total population of Greece is around 11 million...
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...Introduction The financial crisis of 2007–08, also known as the Global Financial Crisis and 2008 financial crisis, is considered by many economists to have been the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It threatened the collapse of large financial institutions, which was prevented by the bailout of banks by national governments, but stock markets still dropped worldwide. In many areas, the housing market also suffered, resulting in evictions, foreclosures and prolonged unemployment. The crisis played a significant role in the failure of key businesses, declines in consumer wealth estimated in trillions of U.S. dollars, and a downturn in economic activity leading to the 2008–2012 global recession and contributing to the European sovereign-debt crisis. The active phase of the crisis, which manifested as a liquidity crisis, can be dated from August 9, 2007, when BNP Paribas terminated withdrawals from three hedge funds citing "a complete evaporation of liquidity". Many causes for the financial crisis have been suggested, with varying weight assigned by experts.The U.S. Senate's Levin–Coburn Report concluded that the crisis was the result of "high risk, complex financial products; undisclosed conflicts of interest; the failure of regulators, the credit rating agencies, and the market itself to rein in the excesses of Wall Street." The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission concluded that the financial crisis was avoidable and was caused by "widespread failures...
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...By: John Deere For years, the country of Greece was a great place to call home. It had a very high-income economy and was one of the world leaders in terms of standard of living for its citizens. The tourism industry was growing faster and faster and helped to fuel the fire beneath the economy. In fact, Greece’s economy expanded at one of the highest rates in the Euro zone in the early 2000’s due to the high volume of tourists that it accommodated. Unfortunately for them, this growth was about to come to an abrupt halt. When the world economy took a turn for the worse, all of the money that Greece had been borrowing in order to fund large projects was examined more closely. It was revealed that Greece had been over-borrowing at such staggering levels that even the EU was shocked. With a down world economy, they were no longer able to borrow at such cheap rates and could not pay off their debts (Hoffman, CBS News). Throughout the rest of this paper, I will examine exactly what led Greece into this mess and what policies that the Greek government should put in place in order to try and resolve this issue with the least amount of damage possible. First things first, let’s look at how Greece got into so much trouble. During the good times, the Greek government decided to borrow billions upon billions of dollars to help the country grow. This would have been fine if they were receiving enough tax revenue in order to cover these debts but, of course, they were not. ...
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...2012 International Crisis in Lending Lessons to be learned Group V Samantha Jeffrey Gabriella Stankovic Na-taisha Williams The debt crisis played a huge role in international lending. This report will discuss how economic crisis can result from many different factors such as changes in government policies which result in failure, and the cost of bank bailouts. Least developing countries also learned a lesson about how interest rates and low exports and imports played a major role in the financial crisis. These countries also tried to stabile their country's currency by fixing its exchange rate to that of the United States, which also resulted in failure. European countries also integrated their currency to Euro that caused a major crisis in lending. All are major factors that contributed to a crisis in international lending. Countries need to know what they are doing wrong before they can solve their problems. The historical events discuss will help serve as answer of how it can be resolved. Sovereign risk is the risk of lending money to the government with the risk of not being able to repay the obligation. There is always a risk in lending but the previous debt crisis and the crisis that is occurring in Europe plays a role in whether financial institutes want to lend to governments. The sovereign risk is important in international lending because many countries borrow money and are unable to pay the money back. Greece is an example of a...
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