Wall Street Journal
May 24, 2011
Greece, under pressure from Germany and other euro-zone members to reduce its massive debt burden, said on Monday it would accelerate its long-delayed plans to sell off €50 billion ($70.7 billion) of state-owned assets over the next five years.
Following a marathon cabinet meeting, the Greek government said it would move forward plans to sell stakes in some of its most-valuable assets, including a state-owned bank, the country's gambling monopoly, its two largest ports, and a water utility in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki.
The move comes comes amid growing expectations in Europe that Greece will need a further bailout to avoid defaulting on its debt. Officials in Berlin and other European capitals are reluctant to extend Greece more aid without winning further concessions from Athens and have demanded that the government begin selling state property as soon as possible.
The government now hopes to raise as much as €5.5 billion through asset sales by the end of 2011, up from an initial target of between €2 billion and €4 billion that the government had been aiming for just a few weeks earlier.
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