The worlds markets breathed a sigh of relief after Eurozone finance ministers finally agreed to a deal to prevent Greece sliding into total ruin but all too soon that relief turned into nerves as worries over the nations long term Euro membership reared its head yet again.
“We have laid the foundations to ensure that Greek debt, the most tortuous and destabilising problem facing the country, has become manageable,” Mr Samaras exalted in a television address, adding that Greece has “ensured its place in the euro.”
Has it? Already the markets are concerned that the deal will not be enough to save Greece’s position in the Eurozone and as all the deal achieved was the release of another round of bailout funds, this time to the tune of €44billion, Greece is in effect back to square one. The nations government may have averted the country from going completely bust but further along down the road the situation we witnessed over the past year will surely appear once again.
Yesterdays deal may be a slight change in tactics from the troika as it tries to limit the amount of money it throws into the ever expanding money pit that is the wreck of the Greek economy, but very few investors have confidence that the deal will prove a solution to the crisis.
“The Euro group provided the expected fudge to keep Greece in the Eurozone,” said Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING Bank. “It is obvious that even the euro group does not expect that this was the last word on Greece.”
Others cited that the deal was just the troika ‘kicking the can down the road’.
One bright point we can take away from the latest deal is that it has increased the chance that Greece could undergo some form of official debt restructuring, with its creditors having to forgive a portion of the nation’s debt as some point in the future. As usual the big question regarding the EU is just when that could happen. Such a move is often reserved for impoverished African or South American states, and Greece certainly fits that category.
Despite the approval of a deal to provide Greece with additional bailout funds The Euro has weakened against the majority of its safe-haven rivals. Analysts have warned that while the news was positive overall for the Euro-zone, disappointing economic indicators from throughout the region continued to weigh down on the common currency.
Today, Euro traders should be aware that while the bailout agreement achieved yesterday provided a temporary solution to the Greek crisis, ongoing fears over the state of the region could lead to further losses for the currency.
The Pound to Euro exchange rate is currently trading at 1.2383
The Pound to US Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.6010
The Pound to Australian Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.5310
The Euro to US Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.2927
The Euro to Pound exchange rate is currently trading at 0.8074
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