Greece Bank bailout - 75 percent of funds already spent , problems fixed ? Lol ! On a similar note , the greater Greece bailoutts have resulted in 98,4 percent going back to the Troika to service Troika loans - way to fix the economy of Greece guys and gals ! Meanwhile the lies continue - remember joker PM Samaras pledging no additional taxes after the last round of new taxes ? Why do Greeks vote for folks that lie right to their faces ? Shutdown ERT rebels continue the good fight ......Greek police that have not yet been placed on administrative lists for future termination make arrests.......And so on , and so forth .....more folks being fired , VAT tax reduced - but is it really ? And when will Greece actually implement those 95 measures - or do they just rollover like option contracts perpetually or until after September 22 , 2013 ?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-30/greece-has-already-spent-75-its-bank-bailout-cash

Greece Has Already Spent 75% Of Its Bank Bailout Cash

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/30/2013 12:29 -0400

• Eurozone
 
• Greece
 
• International Monetary Fund
 
• non-performing loans
 
• Recession
 
• Reuters

Eurozone taxpayers and the IMF are left wondering what their bailout funds have been spent on in Greece. The Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) has spent EUR38bn (or 75% of its total) bolstering the capital of Greece's four biggest banks (and winding down eight small lenders). The EUR50bn fund looks set to be drained further  - despite the banks comments that costs have been cut, funds raised, and assets sold - as non-performing loans continue to surge. About a quarter of all loans are non-performing and that share is likely to increase as the country's six-year recession, which has wiped out over a quarter of the economy, shows little sign of abating. Have no fear though, since stress tests will be carried out later this year to establish whether Greek banks have more capital needs. Of course the key question is - just where were these rescue funds diverted within the bank shells.

Via Reuters,

The Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF), Greece's bank bailout fund, has spent 38 billion euros (33.75 billion pounds) propping up the country's ailing bank system, three-quarters of the total it was endowed with.

About 25 billion euros were used to bolster the capital of Greece's four biggest banks, an HFSF report said. The HFSF, set up in July 2010, spent another 13 billion to wind down eight small lenders as part of measures to shrink the country's banking sector.

...

Eurozone taxpayers and the International Monetary Fund, which bankroll the HFSF, have provided the bulk of the funds used to keep Greek banks going, the report showed.

...

The HFSF is endowed with 50 billion euros out of the 240 billion euros the EU/I?F have made available to rescue Greecefrom a chaotic bankruptcy that could have spread across the entire euro zone.

The rescue of Greece's banking system has been largely completed now. But lenders might need yet more capital to cope with bad loans.

http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2013/07/28/greeks-gets-1-6-of-bailout-loans-98-4-goes-back-to-troika/

Greeks gets 1.6% of bailout loans – 98.4% goes back to Troika

Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Economy

Only a tiny 1.6% of the bailout loans goes to Greece’s state budget, the real economy and the people. The rest 98.4% goes to serve the international creditors International Monetary Fund, European Union member states and European Central Bank.

For the years 2010-20124, from the 236.8 billion euro bailout money and the 25.5 billion euro from privatizations, only 1.6 percent benefits the state and the economy.

98.4% is allocated for obligations to creditors. (source: Eleftherotypia; more details hopefully later)

I really do not understand, why any Greek should complain about it. A whole 3.77 billion euro go to Greece. For my father, for example, who spends the winter without heating and the summer without air-condition or fan because he cannot afford either the heating oil or the electricity bills after the cuts in pensions and health care, the tax hikes and other austerity measures that make descent living impossible.


We are all proud to hand out the last slice of our bread to our creditors.
PS As the slogan claims: “The country is saved!” Not the people…

http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2013/07/29/no-more-additional-taxes-eu-agrees-and-demands-more-taxes-from-greeks/

No more additional taxes? EU agrees and demands more taxes from Greeks

Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Economy

While even EU politicians have repeatedly claim that Greeks cannot afford more taxes, the EU technocrats with the blessing of those EU politicians came to the conclusion that Greeks will have to pay the so-called ‘emergency taxes’ also for the next years.

In the latest European Commission report on Greece issued on Monday, the EU -one of the Troika parts-  writes that while ”Greece has progressed with its fiscal and structural reform, is still displaying weaknesses in several areas.”

Therefore, Greeks should pay the ‘solidarity tax’ (1%-4% according to income criteria) until 2016 and the ‘emergency property tax’ also for the 2014. 

“Several important structural reforms have been implemented in the areas of healthcare, the opening of professions, and public financial management,» said the Commission’s report. «However, far-reaching reforms are still needed in many other areas, including public administration reform, improvements of the business environment, energy and justice.”

The EC outlined several areas that Greece must pay more attention to. These include healthcare spending, tax administration, reducing state arrears and advancing its privatization program. The privatization target for this year has been reduced from 2.6 to 1.6 billion euros after the failure to sell gas firm DEPA. But next year’s target has been increased from 1.9 billion to 3.5 billion euros. (more via ekathimerini)

Brussels gave an indication in which Greece needed to make greater effort.

“Greece”? The country that was saved? The country run by the government? Or the people in this country?

PS I refuse to comment or upload any picture I consider it would greatly fit this EU Commission report. I am a polite person and I should not shock my readers.

http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2013/07/30/26652/

Greek police arrests personnel of shutdown ERT

Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Very Mix

Greek police arrested seven technicians and one journalist who attempted to restore the shutdown public broadcaster ERT on air. A group of former ERT personnel and supporters from opposition parties moved to Mount Hymettus in Eastern Athens and allegedly tried to switch the transmitter back on.


Hymettus protest banner “ERT belongs to people, nobody can muzzle it”

According to ERT personnel, a group of citizens launched a peaceful demonstration away from the transmitter in order to protest the ERT shutdown.


The transmitter was on and ERT was back on analogue television for short time.
“This angered the rulers, who sent riot police squads who used violence against the peaceful citizens,” ERT personnel union POSPERT said in a statement.

Minister aims for crackdown on misconduct as troika’s dismissal target looms Facing pressure from the troika to fire 4,000 civil servants this year and 15,000 in total by the end of 2014, the government has picked up the pace in sackings and on Tuesday issued a circular to ministries with the aim of removing any delays to further dismissals. Written by Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the missive asks for disciplinary hearings, which often drag on for many months, to be wrapped up in two to four months. The government wants to remove from the public payroll any civil servants found guilty of committing offenses. At the end of June, 1,920 cases, including appeals, were being examined by disciplinary panels. It emerged that 104 civil servants have been dismissed over the past month after being found guilty during misconduct hearings. This is four more than had been sacked for offenses during the previous 11 months. There has also been an attempt to bolster oversight, with public sector employees being transferred from other departments to staff the civil service inspection team, which now has 135 employees in Athens and Thessaloniki. Mitsotakis said Tuesday that inspectors are going to search for civil servants that fail to turn up for work or who have used forged degrees to get their jobs. “Those who possess genuine skills have nothing to fear,” Mitsotakis told ANT1 TV. International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde also made reference to staffing issues in Greece’s public administration in a statement following the Washington-based organization’s decision to disburse another loan of 1.7 billion euros after completing the fourth review of the country’s economic program. “Deeper public sector reforms are critical to complete the necessary fiscal adjustment going forward with broad public support,” she said. “Given the slow progress in public administration reforms, efforts should focus on ensuring the exit of unqualified personnel to create room to hire new staff with the relevant skills.”

ekathimerini.com , Tuesday Jul 30, 2013 (21:40)  VAT cut set to create number of loopholes By Prokopis Hatzinikolaou A circular issued on Tuesday by the Finance Ministry to clarify the application of the reduction of the value-added tax on food services appears to have made the issue more confusing. The circular confirms that the tax will decrease from 23 to 13 percent from tomorrow until December 31 at restaurants, bars, tavernas and hotels as far as food is concerned but not alcoholic drinks. However, there are points that generate confusion for the five-month trial period: For instance, a soft drink delivered to one’s home or workplace will have a 23 percent VAT rate, but if consumed inside a restaurant the VAT will be just 13 percent. If a soft drink is taken from a hotel room minibar, the VAT rate will be 23 percent, but if room service brings it to the room it will have a 13 percent VAT rate. The ministry estimates that final retail prices will have to come down 8.1 percent for consumers to enjoy the full benefit of the tax reduction. ekathimerini.com , Tuesday Jul 30, 2013 (23:27)  Troika still waiting for Athens to implement 95 measures  The departure of Fotis Kouvelis’s Democratic Left party from the government is expected to help speed up reforms, particularly as far as the civil servant mobility scheme is concerned. By Costas Karkayiannis The Greek government failed to implement some 95 measures by the deadline it had agreed with its creditors, according to the European Commission’s assessment report issued on Monday. The measures that were applied in time range from the voting of the single property tax to the privatization of companies, the drafting of a strategy for the management of public sector human resources, the creation of an action plan for tackling unemployment, governmental transparency and accountability, the use of generic pharmaceuticals and the obligation of hospitals to publish their financial reports. The list of the actions the government has been asked to complete reveals the scope of the inspections that the representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – known as the troika – conduct in Greece and illustrates the extent to which public administration in this country has disintegrated. The delay in the transfer of a total of 250 public properties to the state privatization fund (TAIPED) every three months is only partly being dealt with as most ministries have not yet submitted their full data. The government’s efforts to postpone the increase in the so-called objective values (property prices used for tax purposes) is meant to reduce the impact on poorer areas. The government put the delay in the civil servants’ mobility plan down to the presence in the three-party coalition of Democratic Left, whose departure in June is believed to have eradicated the problem. All 95 measures the government has not fulfilled were clearly not essential for the disbursement of the latest loan installments, but some of them may soon become “prior actions” required for future tranches. ekathimerini.com , Tuesday Jul 30, 2013 (23:22)