The IMF’s admission of tragic errors in Greek bailout, the EU’s indifference
24 May 2019
By Dimitris Galanis
In evaluating its programme to “rescue” Greece, the International Monetary Fund directly and clearly admits what we all knew: – that the purpose of the programme was not to rescue Greece but to save the banks of the eurozone.
With absolute cynicism the Fund concedes that it made tragic mistakes.
In the framework of an evaluation of the bailout programmes that were implemented between 2008 and 2017, the Executive Board of the Fund has in many instances pinpointed important miscalculations and omissions.
Read more at https://www.in.gr/2019/05/24/english-edition/imfs-admission-tragic-errors-greek-bailout-eus-indifference/
IMF admits disastrous love affair with the euro and apologises for the immolation of Greece
July 29, 2016
The International Monetary Fund’s top staff misled their own board, made a series of calamitous misjudgments in Greece, became euphoric cheerleaders for the euro project, ignored warning signs of impending crisis, and collectively failed to grasp an elemental concept of currency theory.
This is the lacerating verdict of the IMF’s top watchdog on the fund’s tangled political role in the eurozone debt crisis, the most damaging episode in the history of the Bretton Woods institutions.
Read more at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/07/28/imf-admits-disastrous-love-affair-with-euro-apologises-for-the-i/
Austerity has left Greeks so poor that recovery is a distant dream
Nov. 5, 2018
While the Greek government waits for the latest developments on both the Macedonian front and its war of words with Turkey, the fallout from the economic crisis persistently presents more disturbing domestic problems.
On one hand, the post-bailout surveillance by the EU will continue as long as Greece’s economy remains unstable, and its position in the international marketplace is uncertain and vulnerable.
On the other, the long-term effects of the austerity programmes over the past eight years are so deep-rooted that poverty as a way of life (“queueing for a living”) is the real prospect for a huge percentage of the population.
Read more at https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/austerity-has-left-greeks-so-poor-that-recovery-is-a-distant-dream-1.3687211
Greek tragedy
Oct. 6, 2018
Now Greece can finally turn the page in a crisis that has lasted too long. The worst is over.’ With these triumphant words, Pierre Moscovici, the EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, declared an end to the EU’s eight-year €289 billion bailout programme to Greece, the largest rescue in financial history.
Except Greece’s financial crisis isn’t by any means over — and the EU’s blithe and self-congratulatory announcement is a stain on Brussels’s moral authority. As a Greek property owner, a committed Grecophile and a disappointed Remoaner, I have witnessed with rising horror the slow water-boarding of the Greek population over the last eight years. Every one of my Greek friends has a tale to tell of families under intolerable pressure, of parents forced to leave their infant children to seek work overseas, and of grandparents funding two generations of unemployed adults from their diminishing savings and from meagre pensions already savagely cut by the EU.
Read more at https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/greek-tragedy
IMF leaders admit they got sums wrong over Greece’s rescue
June 5, 2013
The International Monetary Fund is reported to be prepared to admit that it got it sums wrong over the damage that its austerity programme would do to the Greek economy and the true scale of the nation’s debt.
In a report, which has been passed to the Wall Street Journal, the IMF admits that it made crucial mistakes over Greece.
In particular the IMF said that it had been wrong of senior figures at the organisation, including managing director Christine Lagarde to insist from the early part of the crisis, which began in 2010, that the level of Greek debt was “sustainable” and likely to be repaid in full in a timely fashion.
Read more at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/imf-leaders-admit-they-got-sums-wrong-over-greeces-rescue-8646504.html
You should actually read the IMF’s memo on Greece. It’s horrific.
July 15, 2015
Germany and the EU “won” their arguments with Greece, and the country accepted another bailout deal as the cost of staying in the eurozone.
Neither the country nor the people wanted the bailout to come with another painful austerity package, but it has.
But it is not until you actually read the IMF’s July 14 memo on the current state of Greek debt (PDF) that you realise just how far from reality German chancellor Angela Merkel was when she got her victory, and just how realistic the protestations of prime minister Alexis Tsipras and his left-leaning Syriza government actually were.
Read more at https://www.businessinsider.com/you-should-actually-read-the-imfs-memo-on-the-greece-bailout-its-horrific-2015-7
EU refuses to acknowledge mistakes made in Greek bailout
By Richard Koo
Jul. 21, 2015
As I write this it would be appear that the Greek crisis is finally coming to an end. In this report I would like to discuss why the negotiations were so fraught and what an agreement actually means. In a nutshell, the EU sought to address matters with the same kinds of measures that had been tried in the past, while Greece argued that doing so would not make things any better—and would in fact make them far worse.
Greece’s view was rooted in the fact that its GDP has shrunk 30%, in sharp contrast to the bullish IMF forecasts made when the bailout began in 2010. That not only complicated the negotiations but has also left many Greeks struggling to survive. With its income falling to such low levels, the Greek private sector has been forced to dis- save for years i.e., living off the past savings, making it impossible for the country to pay back debt to foreign creditors.
Read more at https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/eu-refuses-to-acknowledge-mistakes-made-in-greek-bailout
The IMF’s big Greek mistake
April 27, 2015
The Greek government’s mounting financial woes are leading it to contemplate the previously unthinkable: defaulting on a loan from the International Monetary Fund. Instead of demanding repayment and further austerity, the IMF should recognize its responsibility for the country’s predicament and forgive much of the debt.
Greece’s onerous obligations to the IMF, the European Central Bank and European governments can be traced back to April 2010, when they made a fateful mistake. Instead of allowing Greece to default on its insurmountable debts to private creditors, they chose to lend it the money to pay in full.
Read more at https://www.bruegel.org/2015/04/the-imfs-big-greek-mistake/
IMF admits mistakes in Greece policy
June 8, 2013
An internal IMF report which admits grave mistakes in the first aid package to Greece elicits angry reactions in Athens. But Premier Samaras claims his country is experiencing a success story.
In particular, the International Monetary Fund’s admission of having underestimated the recession and unemployment in Greece has sparked rage in the country. “They are admitting that we are paying for their mistakes,” wrote the left-leaning “Editors’ Newspaper.” Best-selling daily paper “Ta Nea” sees the IMF’s report as a “confession of failure.”
Read more at https://www.dw.com/en/imf-admits-mistakes-in-greece-policy/a-16868608
Also read
Frenkel’s 7-step guide to Greek crisis
