Sunday, September 4, 2011

Venizelos faces difficult balancing act

Financial Times
September 4, 2011

Greece’s finance minister is under fire this week as he tries to smooth domestic concerns over new austerity measures, while producing a draft budget for 2012 that looks credible to international lenders.

Evangelos Venizelos went on the offensive on Sunday after local media reported details of last week’s breakdown in talks with the troika – experts from the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank – amid disagreement over €5.7bn ($8.1bn) of extra spending cuts and revenue increases in 2011-2012.

But Mr Venizelos’s warning against “scaremongering” could backfire with markets already spooked by the troika’s walkout, which sent yields on Greek bonds to fresh highs on Friday.

Greece is due to raise €1bn in six-month treasury bills on Tuesday at an auction seen as a test of local banks’ stability amid a worsening liquidity squeeze.

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