June 5, 2010
Greek state assets to be sold
Greek military spending to halt
New York Times reports how the Papandreou government is proceeding with plans for privatizing a number of the state assets:
“...The government will sell 49 percent of the state railroad, list ports and airports on the stock market, and privatize the country’s casinos, the Finance Ministry said after a cabinet meeting in Athens. The government will also sell minority stakes in water utilities serving Athens and Thessaloniki, sell 39 percent of the post office, and combine its vast real estate assets into a holding company to be listed on the stock market.
The sales are intended to help raise 3 billion euros, or about $3.7 billion, from 2011 to 2013. The government agreed to raise a billion euros a year over that time as a condition of the 110 billion euro aid program it received from the European Union.
...An official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said Greek ministers had “laid out a general framework for the government’s privatization goals, but the timing has been left unclear.”
An interesting side note in the NYT article is a reference to the situation with the Greek military: spending is shown to be statistically higher than any other european country. The Greek dilemma with Turkey is a long one and entails not only the aggressive tone in recent Turk governments, but the unending arguments over Cyprus, Aegean islands and mineral rights therein.
"Panos Beglitis, the Defense Ministry official in charge of military procurement, told The Associated Press that the government would also end or slow purchases of military equipment.
Mr. Beglitis said some of the deals under review included the purchase of warships, fighting vehicles and fighter jets, The A.P. reported.
NATO figures show that Greece spent 2.8 percent of G.D.P. on its armed forces in 2008, or about 6.9 billion euros. That makes it the most expensive military budget in Europe in per capita terms, and second only to the United States in the alliance. Athens has justified such spending as necessary to keep up with its regional rival, Turkey, also a NATO member."
I noticed that the term "fire sale" was used in this article on Greece by the news site RTT News. That reminded me of how that same term was used some 65 years ago in news reports of the post-world war II era to describe how cheap goods became in Europe in the economic collapse from the war and how desperate governments and businesses were to get goods and money moving again.
Greece's Golden Visa program
