Greece to answer questions on derivatives trading
Share
The Greek government will have to explain to the eurozone why it took part in off-balance sheet derivatives trading over the last decade.
According to the New York Times, in 2001 Greece was taking part in deals masked as currency exchanges that saw them receive upfront capital in return for government payments in the future, with those liabilities then left off the books.
In light of the report, according to Reuters, the European Commission has asked Greece to explain what contracts it had engaged in as Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency, had never been informed.
Commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj said: “I want to state that Eurostat was not aware of such transactions. But I can tell you that Eurostat has indeed, following these reports, already requested the Greek authorities for an explanation by the end of February.
“We need the information on what kind of transactions took place, if they did (take place), and what was the effect on the government accounts of Greece…This is something that we don’t have the information (on) yet and we have requested.”
Greece has pledged to reduce its deficit by 4 per cent of GDP in 2010, from 12.7 per cent of GDP to 8.7 per cent.
According to Bloomberg, Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker said: “We’re waiting for Greece to prove that it’s taking very seriously the commitments it has made.” The report says that the EU is expecting the indebted nation to show evidence of significant austerity measures in March or will decide further measures themselves. Juncker said that if the Greek government’s efforts do not satisfy the commission, the EU “will impose on Greece the acceptance of additional measures”.
According to the latest figures from Eurostat, EU GDP increased by 0.1 per cent over Q4 2009. In Q3 2009, growth rate was 0.3 per cent.
If you enjoyed this article, sign up here to receive daily email updates from Money Marketing and Follow @_moneymarketing
Readers' comments (2)
Anonymous | 16 Feb 2010 2:40 pm
Reminiscent of the "pot calling the kettle black" coming from the EU - when were it's own accounts last ratified?
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Stuart Rathbone | 16 Feb 2010 2:59 pm
Don't you just love those Bankers (in this case GS is allegedly one of them). One day soon they will rule (for that read own) the world. I believe it was Nathan Rothschild who said when discussing the control of a state “Give me control of a nation’s currency (there were no single currency trading blocks in his time if you exclude America) and I do not care who makes the laws”
It is sad that in this time human beings are so week as too mortgage their children future rather than face a tough choice to go without what they cannot afford.
The only thing worse are the human beings who are our elected representatives that we trust to make the hard decisions, who rather than make the tough choices take the easy way out safe in the knowledge that they are going to live comfortably on their spoils of office. It’s akin to a drug dealer feeding the addicts habit and profiting from it when they know that a cold turkey & rehab is best for the addict.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment