In something of a panic, the EU bailout fund today hastened to transfer 25bn euros worth of short-term EFSF bonds to Greece. The official version began, “Riding a wave of Athens stock exchange optimism about the future of Greek banks….”
Our thanks go to Winston Smith in the Ministry of Truth.
Some additional details were, however, more telling:
‘The EU loan transfer comes despite the fact that details about the terms for the participation and voting rights of existing bank shareholders in the new – largely state held – bank shares have not yet been finalised. The local market is also awaiting an April 20 deadline for the banks to announce the first quarterly results incorporating the amounts of losses incurred in their balance sheets from a 53.5% writedown on Greek debt….’
It’s also, of course, the deadline for paying off the Foreign Law bondholders.
Words like ‘dots’ ‘join’ and ‘up’ spring to mind.
The Slog 