...Euro Crisis: Greece’s Reform to Uphold the Euro Greece has been a significant trading partner within the EU as well with the global community at large. Public spending has been at its highest since the financial crisis in 2008 and with irrational investing behind banks and the private sectors; it only worsened their economy. The complicated areas of the European economy mostly have been due to countries spending vast amounts of borrowed finances than they have fluctuating within their own nation. Countries deficits are still increasing after the US financial crisis and it has led to continuous austerity agreements and negotiations to prevent these issues from relapsing. Greece is in a classic sovereign debt crisis and while struggling to fix their deficit, (currently the largest in the Eurozone) this turned to controversial debates whether or not to let Greece free of the euro, or continue to keep them in. The problem of the matter relies heavily on the political sector of the union as well as the economic foundation represented in Greece’s past, showing that releasing the nation from the euro will only cause more harm than actually stabilizing them in. The US financial crisis of 2008 grew strongly towards the inefficiency between the banks and investors, who failed to act rational in accordance with the economy (Heath 401). In an efficient market, one person’s gains are another person’s loss but one cannot strategize placement in the market through someone making continuous...
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...analysis the movements in value of the Euro against the pound since January 2008 Introduction The value of Euro varies with time by a floating exchange rate against British Pound (GBP). Hence, the exchange rate influenced the value of Euro against GBP and law of one price is assumed. Theories such as the relative Purchasing Power Parity and the fisher effect illustrate the impact of the inflation and the interest rate between two countries on the value of the currency. The asset market model is also another instrument to analyse the movement of a currency. The constraints of using these models are those theories all assumed perfect efficiency of market and the increasing role of global capital flows is ignored. Therefore they are relatively useful to predict the rates in the future which are demonstrated in part two. The following analysis is based on economic factors such as the economic status of the Euro area and the United Kingdom (UK) and the decision made by the Bank of England (BoE) and the European Central Bank (ECB). The investor confidence (Market Psychology) is also below. They affect the value of euro significant, as they vary the supply of and demand for Euro. The value of Euro against British Pound (GBP) increased throughout the three years. The Euro rose from 0.7416 to 0.8507 over the three decades. Euro was 0.7416 at the beginning of 2008, which was its weakest point in these three years. Moreover, the strongest point of Euro relative to GBP is 0.9785 on December...
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...Eurozone crisis explained * Impact on you * Spain in numbers * Spain Q&A * Greece Q&A * Causes Continue reading the main story What went wrong in Greece? BACK1 of 10NEXT Continue reading the main story ------------------------------------------------- Eurozone crisis * Q&A: Spain's woes * Keeping the euro together * Who's afraid of the euro crisis? * How eurozone crisis affects you After months of refusing to countenance the possibility of Greece leaving the euro, eurozone politicians slowly began to acknowledge there may be no option but to let the country go. The result of the general election on 17 June will please those who hope Greece will remain in the euro bloc. But the outcome is far from clear. The election result means the victorious party, the centre-right New Democracy, will be able to form a coalition intent on pushing through the austerity measures insisted upon by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. But no one knows at this early stage just how long a coalition will last and whether, ultimately, Greece's problems will become so overwhelming that it will be forced to leave the euro. Syriza, which came second in the election, continues to oppose the austerity programme and is promising to freeze payments to creditors and renegotiate the terms of the bailout from the EU and IMF. Germany has led demands that the loan terms are not negotiable. Why is Greece in trouble? Greece was living beyond...
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...Its problems, in the eyes of many of the other nations of the euro zone, were not only negatively impacting the prosperity of the Greeks, but also the viability of the European Union. The country as a whole requires a major restructuring. Not only are drastic changes needed in financial and economic policies, but the Greeks need to understand their attitude of government entitlements cannot be sustained. The mismanagement of the Greek economy is also evident in its place in the global market community. It has not found the path that a county needs to follow to become an active member of the vibrant, high growth world of globalization. Over the past ten years, Greece had been on a debt spree that came to an abrupt halt in late 2009. This unsustainable expenditure in social entitlements provoked an economic crisis that had destroyed the country’s economy, brought down its governing body, unleashed increasing unrest in the populace and greatly endangered the future of the euro. Greece’s debt issues can be traced back to years of spending that the government did not recuperate in taxes. Greece was borrowing from banks worldwide and had no way of repaying the billions of dollars owed. One might even trace the issues further back to 2001 when Greece joined the euro zone. The policy-makers misreported the real level of public borrowing so that Greece could meet the euro zone’s entry guidelines. As a result, the euro offered significantly lower interest rates than the drachma, Greece’s...
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...economy of euro zone member, Greece. Once considered as a financially stable country, Greece is now on the edge of having a financial default. With a debt total amounting to an estimated $420 billion, experts say that this debt would have been bigger that the country’s economy itself and this debt is predicted to increase as time goes by because Greece spends 12% more than it gets revenues. So what’s exactly went wrong with Greece and how did they get themselves in deep trouble? One main cause for this is the country going on an uncontrolled spending binge which relies on debt to be sustained. One prestigious project they paid for over its budget limit is the 2004 Athens Olympics. Add that up to the failure of implementing consistent economic reforms and lending with despicable returns eventually led Greece vulnerable to a debt crisis. In result of this, Fitch ratings agency cuts Greece’s credit rating from an A- to a BBB+, first time in 10 years that the country has seen its ratings below an A grade. This will prove to be a big blow to the country as it now pushes up the cost of borrowing money. It will also be viewed by their foreign investors as a financial void as they would be given lower interest payments for their investments. To try and cope up with this downfall, the government stated its plans on making some harsh cuts on their budget. As this debt crisis develops, thousands of Greek workers went on a strike to protest these austerity measures Greece is willing to...
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...FINANCIAL CRISIS IN GREECE Enter the economy of euro zone member, Greece. Once considered as a financially stable country, Greece is now on the edge of having a financial default. With a debt total amounting to an estimated $420 billion, experts say that this debt would have been bigger that the country’s economy itself and this debt is predicted to increase as time goes by because Greece spends 12% more than it gets revenues. So what’s exactly went wrong with Greece and how did they get themselves in deep trouble? One main cause for this is the country going on an uncontrolled spending binge which relies on debt to be sustained. One prestigious project they paid for over its budget limit is the 2004 Athens Olympics. Add that up to the failure of implementing consistent economic reforms and lending with despicable returns eventually led Greece vulnerable to a debt crisis. In result of this, Fitch ratings agency cuts Greece’s credit rating from an A- to a BBB+, first time in 10 years that the country has seen its ratings below an A grade. This will prove to be a big blow to the country as it now pushes up the cost of borrowing money. It will also be viewed by their foreign investors as a financial void as they would be given lower interest payments for their investments. To try and cope up with this downfall, the government stated its plans on making some harsh cuts on their budget. As this debt crisis develops, thousands of Greek workers went on a strike to protest these...
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...economy of euro zone member, Greece. Once considered as a financially stable country, Greece is now on the edge of having a financial default. With a debt total amounting to an estimated $420 billion, experts say that this debt would have been bigger that the country’s economy itself and this debt is predicted to increase as time goes by because Greece spends 12% more than it gets revenues. So what’s exactly went wrong with Greece and how did they get themselves in deep trouble? One main cause for this is the country going on an uncontrolled spending binge which relies on debt to be sustained. One prestigious project they paid for over its budget limit is the 2004 Athens Olympics. Add that up to the failure of implementing consistent economic reforms and lending with despicable returns eventually led Greece vulnerable to a debt crisis. In result of this, Fitch ratings agency cuts Greece’s credit rating from an A- to a BBB+, first time in 10 years that the country has seen its ratings below an A grade. This will prove to be a big blow to the country as it now pushes up the cost of borrowing money. It will also be viewed by their foreign investors as a financial void as they would be given lower interest payments for their investments. To try and cope up with this downfall, the government stated its plans on making some harsh cuts on their budget. As this debt crisis develops, thousands of Greek workers went on a strike to protest these austerity measures Greece is willing...
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...summarized which participated in the debt crisis. Violation of EU Rules- The beginning of the story of the debt crisis is related to the earlier stages of the time, when many European nations wanted to form a monetary union which lead to the inception of “Euro” as many participants violated the conditions needed under the Maastricht treaty. Countries like Greece and Cyprus didn’t had real data about the financial and economic conditions and EU ignored it. EU also accepted heavy debts by many countries at the time of crisis. Banking Sector Problem- The banking sector was collapsed when it got involved in the global financial chain which dragged down in 2007 financial crisis. The Banks were in a weak position because of the financial instruments of high risk will collapse in the debt crisis scenario and as the money they had was used for financing Government budget deficit rather than doing its important role of providing the money to Businesses and households which could have given them return for their ending amount. Rating Agencies- Tensions in bond market and increasing bond yields, difficulty in raising money by the government due to low trust of the creditors had after rating agencies continued downgrading the troubled euro nations because of the risk arising from the debt crisis. Political Conflict Different ideologies of the parties created conflicts between European decision makers. Germany and other rich nations refused any decisive method solving the debt scenario...
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...along to end Europe’s spending. There are some factors that may have been the reason as to why Europe is like this such as, cheap debt, rising interest rates, bailouts, investor confidence wavers, key stakeholders tighten their wallets, and austerity stifles growth (Introduction: euro crisis explained). When mentioning cheap debt it means when they were borrowing money at an affordable level and it came time to repay, it wasn’t that affordable anymore. With bailouts, they have been paying large amounts of money to high-risk Eurozone countries. For investor confidence wavers, it means that when investors see that things are not looking to good, they want to take their money elsewhere, so they leave hoping to find more money somewhere else. In the financial sector of the European crisis, there were many different reasons as to why this happened the way it did, but the reasons are few. Some of the reason is the banks were overleveraged, and the main was the financial problems that reverberated through out the world from the United States crisis. The banks were overleveraged because it carried all the debts from all the countries. Banks all over Europe hold Greek and other euro debt, and Greece or any other country defaulting could ripple out and cause bank failures and economic earthquakes (new...
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...threat of another continental war would be nearly impossible to instigate in Europe again. As members of the European Union grew, an idea was formed to enhance the economic cohesiveness of the many member nations. In 1992 the Maastrict Treaty was established to create a universal currency for members of the European Union who wanted to participate (cited in Lynn, 2012, p. 25). Those nations that joined this Eurozone can be seen in Figure 1 as indicated by their blue color. Figure 1 Members who abandoned their national currency in favor of the new "Euro" currency became known as members of the "Eurozone" (Ashton, 2012). By linking a single currency to multiple economic engines, the Euro quickly gained value and popularity. After roughly one decade of existence, the Euro surpassed the par value of the United States dollar in 2003 (Westover, 2011). As financial reserves increasingly switched from dollars to euros, the outlook for the European Union seemed almost guaranteed. Although not perfect, many hailed the creation of this economic machine as brilliant. Never before...
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...I The problem Adoption of a common currency in Europe In the 1990's the major European countries decided to have a common currency. They carried out their plan in two steps, first for business transactions in 1999, and then for all citizens, beginning January 1st, 2002. In broad outline, countries set aside the currencies they each were using previously and instead dealt themselves euros. From then on the so-called eurozone had a single currency, a "unique money". In the 2000's Greece and other countries joined the group. Greece undertook the same operation. It relinquished its drachmas and received an equivalent amount of euros. We explain below technically the issuance of a new currency, but for the time being what's important is the result. Henceforth Greek firms and Greek citizens could buy goods and services anywhere in the eurozone with their euros. Let's see how this lead to the present monetary crisis, and what is likely to happen next. Continued Greek budget and trade deficits, borrowing euros To understand the problem of Greece, we ought to distinguish monetary flows within the country from those across borders. They entail different accounting records, liabilities and problems. And within the country, let's focus on one very special economic agent, the government, the revenues of which normally come from taxes. * Within the country: the Greek government kept its economic policy which consisted in spending more than it received from taxes and minor state entrepreneurial...
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...situation. Greece was then faced with the possibility of sovereign debt default. The failure of Greece to pay their debts required bailouts from the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). While the loan bailouts have eased short term liquidity problems, Greece still remained in financial turmoil which may even deteriorate. This research paper aims to explore the history behind the Greek debt crisis, the implications it has globally and on South Africa as well as the lessons that can be learnt from the crisis. Origins of the Greek debt crisis 2.1 Historical development: 2001-2008/09 In 2001 Greece became the twelfth member to join the Euro zone and was permitted to use the Euro (€) as its currency. Greece joined the Euro zone because of the benefits associated with being part of the Euro area. These benefits were essential to the economy of Greece who had a record of unpredictable inflation (Gibson, Hall & Tavlas, 2012). In addition, after Greece changed to the Euro they had the freedom to borrow money from foreign capital markets. During 2003-2007 government records showed Greece to be growing at 4% a year which gave investors’ confidence and made Greek bonds a popular investment. However, Greece falsified its debt to seem more financially secure. This misrepresentation led to Greece debt position being hidden which made the country seem more attractive to investors (Wong, 2014). During 2008 Greece could not...
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...and Answers on the Eurobond - Full analysis |More Services | Eurobonds are essential to save the euro, yet a flawed structure will produce adverse effects. We must see what needs to be done, what to be avoided. | In explaining the new order of things in the systemic crisis of the euro I concluded saying that a series of structural reforms in the architecture of the euro need to take place. Among them was/is the introduction of the eurobond. The eurobond is quite a vague and broad concept since it has never taken material form before. It therefore creates a number of questions as to its form, the body responsible for its issuance, the relations between it and the states, the sovereign debt of euro countries and whether it will be mutualized, what are the dangers etc. All these arguments are legitimate and bear a certain truth in them, yet without putting everything into context we can never reach a verdict and decide whether to adopt or reject the option of the Eurobond. In my discussions with my readers and with other Europeans, as well as in my research across the Internet and the European blogosphere, I have gathered a number of common questions that are raised. I shall attempt to provide answers to these questions in order decide whether eurobonds are the only way out of this dead-end that Europe has reached. (To view a concrete proposal for saving the euro, within the current institutional framework, one that will not imply any fiscal transfers or any pooling...
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...International Political Economy - July 2011 Greece has been experiencing severe fiscal challenges for the past decade. The country’s economic and political situation has reached crisis level thus propelling it into the global lime-light, dominating headlines in print and electronic media. This essay seeks to explain the crisis and explore the implications for Greece, the European Union and the international political economy, should continued assistance not forthcoming. The source of Creek’s debt crisis is both domestic and international. Domestically, analysts point to high government spending, weak revenue collection, and structural rigidities in the economy. This affected the state’s ability to fund government budget and current account deficits, resulting in profound borrowing. As the situation progressed for the worst, the Creek economy relied heavily on international capital markets, which only aided in making the country extremely vulnerable to any shifts in investor confidence. Access to capital at low interest rates after adopting the euro, and weak enforcement of European Union (EU) rules concerning debt and deficit ceilings facilitated Greece’s accumulating high levels of external debt. In October 2009 investors became jittery due to the actions of the newly elected government in revising the estimate of the government budget deficit for 2009 from 6.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 12.7% of GDP (Nelson et al., 2010). A few months later, however, in April...
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...Table of Contens Introduction 2 1. Foundation of Euro Zone 2 1.1. Background 2 1.2. Optimum Currency Area 3 1.3. Is Europe an Optimum Currency Area? 5 2. Account imbalance in Eurozone 6 2.1. Captial inflow from outside of eurozone 7 2.2. Bond interest rate convergence after eurozone introduction, it increase raising capital of periphery countries. 10 2.3. Price and unit labor cost increase in periphery countries -> competitiveness loss 11 3. Lehman Brothers 14 3.1. Reasons for Bankruptcy 14 3.2. LEVERAGE 15 3.3. LIQUIDITY 15 3.4. LOSSES 15 3.5. Final words 16 4. Greece Financial Crisis 16 4.1. Current Greece Financial Crisis 16 4.2. Greece before Financial Crisis 18 4.3. Industry 19 4.4. Tax Evasion 20 4.5. Populism and Corruption 22 5. Conclusion 23 5.1. Fundamental defect in the euro area – The impossible of independent monetary policy worsen the Economic Crisis of Europe. 23 5.2 Fundamental defect in the euro area – The Eurozone, which was established without financial alliance makes the financial crisis to the banking crisis. 26 REFERNECES 28 Introduction In June, whole world paid attention to Greek economic crisis. Greece, had undergone crisis because of financial crisis from United States since 2008, has evaded a default with two times of relief loans from European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB), and International Monetary Fund (IMF). But Greece announced that they couldn’t pay back the loan to IMF...
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