Greek leftist "magic solutions" considered mumbo jumbo by critics

Greek leftist “magic solutions” considered mumbo jumbo by critics

Greek Finance Minister G. Hardouvelis told the Financial Times that Greece is "treading a thin line", whereas SYRIZA deputy has come under fire for suggesting to issue more euros

The Financial Times reports that Greece risks a cash crunch if the main opposition Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) party comes to power in the January 25 national elections. Greek Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis has escalated tones over the last week regarding the possibilities of the country’s reserves running out of cash to make debt repayments in March if the leftists come to power. He has warned that a break with Greece’s international creditors could lead to chaos.

“I’m raising a flag because there is complacency about raising funds to pay our obligations and that complacency is not warranted,” said Mr. Hardouvelis in an interview with FT.

FT refers to a financial position that looks “dire” in Greece at the moment with reserves shrinking to just 2 billion euros while the country has already hit the ceiling permitted by the European Central Bank in outstanding treasury bills worth 15 billion euros. Mr. Hardouvelis states that Greece is “treading a thin line.”

Mr. Hardouvelis is not the only opponent of SYRIZA’s plans for the economy. Apart from FT’s focus, other critics state that the opposition is promising “magic solutions” such as SYRIZA candidate Rachel Makri, in a public television interview, who said that (a) there won’t be a Grexit because this is not authorized by the eurozone conditions, (b) should Greece not get its 7.5-billion-euro installment then it can turn to the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) and that (c) Greece will issue another 100 billion euros when the total amount of euros issued per year in the entire eurozone comes to 880 billion euros.

A number of deputies have criticized Ms. Makri for the absurdity of her suggestion regarding printing more money with SYRIZA deputy Nikos Chountis refusing to comment further after clarifying that this was not the official party line even though a similar initiative had been taken in Ireland. On his part, SYRIZA deputy Dimitris Papadimoulis asked for deputies of his party to not make comments unless they are certain of the validity of these.

Another matter of confusion is the single property tax (ENFIA) and SYRIZA’s interest in abolishing this tax.

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