Greece

Greek banks are racing to pre-emptively boost their capital amid hopes that they will come through stress tests in better shape than was thought, potentially sparing existing investors the pain of large losses, the Financial Times reported. Piraeus Bank, Greece’s second-largest lender by assets, moved last week to offer junior bondholders the chance to swap their credit claims for ordinary shares, a step which boosts the bank’s core Tier one capital ratio, a key measure of financial strength.

Hundreds of thousands of Greeks, who have other professions and may cultivate very little of their land, claim to be farmers in order to cash in on a variety of tax breaks and farming subsidies, the International New York Times reported. Lawyers and doctors, for instance, plant olive groves in northern Greece, though the climate is inappropriate, and then collect government compensation for damaged crops. The privileges of farmers have long been a hot-button issue in Greece. The country’s creditors have pressed past governments to rein in farmers’ benefits.

The Greek government on Thursday dismissed the country’s top tax official, saying she was not fulfilling her duty to aggressively collect taxes and fight tax evasion, the International New York Times reported. The firing of the official, Katerina Savvaidou, the head of a supposedly independent public revenue authority, came at a sensitive moment in the country’s effort to mount an economic comeback and live up to the conditions of its international bailout program.

Greece’s new bailout program is already slipping behind schedule as the country’s foreign creditors visit Athens this week for negotiations over disputed austerity measures, The Wall Street Journal reported. Under the €86 billion ($97.6 billion) bailout plan, agreed in August after months of diplomatic brinkmanship between Greece and the eurozone, Athens was supposed to enact dozens of economic-policy overhauls by mid-October to unlock to first of its aid loans.

Greece’s lawmakers approved Friday the first bill containing tough austerity measures and economic overhauls agreed under its new bailout program, The Wall Street Journal reported. After a week-long debate, the bill, which includes stricter pension rules, tax hikes and tougher fines for tax evasion, was passed by the majority of Greece’s 300 lawmakers.

Although dealing with delinquent loans is one of the biggest challenges facing the government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the country’s creditors, the issue is so knotty that it was not included in the bundle of economic reforms the Greek Parliament was debating this week. Instead, it will be taken up later, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. Officially, more than 40 percent of loans issued by Greek banks are seriously in arrears. By some estimates, the rate tops 50 percent, if loans that have gone sour in recent months are included.

Greece’s leftwing Syriza-led government has presented more tax and pension reforms to parliament amid growing concerns that the package of measures will prolong the country’s six-year recession, the Financial Times reported. The proposals are being discussed under emergency procedures so that Greece can meet a weekend deadline set by creditors for implementing a tough front-loaded package of fiscal and structural measures in return for an €86bn bailout.

Greece’s parliament Monday began debating the first bill containing tough austerity measures and economic overhauls agreed under its new bailout program, The Wall Street Journal reported. The bill, which is expected to go to a vote on Friday, includes stricter pension rules, tax hikes and tougher fines for tax evasion.

After a tumultuous year for Greeks, their politicians and their banks, a new Syriza-led government must by next week legislate measures to recapitalise all four lenders with about €15bn of money from the country’s €86bn third bailout, the Financial Times reported. There is no room this time for the slippage that marked the previous Syriza administration’s attempts at structural reform.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told lawmakers early on Thursday that Athens must conclude the first review of its new international bailout within November, to start talks over a debt relief before the end of the year, Reuters reported. "Our main target is to conclude the review within November and the bank recapitalisation by the end of the year, in order to, at last, start the discussion over a debt relief," Tsipras said ahead of a confidence vote.