Greece

Greece's finance minister pledged Tuesday to speed up a series of delayed reforms meant to cut flab from the country's bloated public sector without immediate job losses, open up tightly regulated professions to competition and kick-start an ambitious privatization plan, the Associated Press reported. "Greece is not the pariah of the European Union, it is not a permanent sore and problem," Evangelos Venizelos told reporters after a cabinet meeting. "It is an equal, competitive country that has a very serious problem regarding its public debt and fiscal deficit.

Greece is likely to miss its budget-deficit targets this year in the face of a deep economic contraction that is turning out to be even more severe than forecast, government officials said Thursday, conceding that the country is likely to face demands for still more budget cuts, The Wall Street Journal reported. Greece's deficit could exceed 8.5% of gross domestic product, compared with an official forecast of 7.6%, as the government struggles to meet revenue goals, two senior Greek government officials said. The deficit is now estimated at "around 8.5%, or a bit higher.

Credit Suisse, the Swiss bank, has warned investors against buying shares in Greek banks. It was a conclusion reached after lengthy analysis of bank reserves, likely profits and relationship to the ailing Greek economy. But it hardly seemed necessary – there can be few investors queueing up to add Greek bank stock to their portfolio, The Guardian reported. That is the case for most European banks. Share prices have dived since last year and despite a few mini rallies, remain depressed. In March Credit Agricole shares topped €12; last week they were just above €6.

France and Germany may effectively run the European Union, but Finland has been demonstrating how even a small country can disrupt their grand designs, the International Herald Tribune reported. By insisting that it receive collateral from Greece in return for aid, Finland is threatening to upend an agreement that euro zone countries, led by France and Germany, made in July to expand the E.U. bailout fund. Finland would contribute less than 2 percent of the guarantees provided to the fund, known as the European Financial Stability Facility.

Greek households and small businesses show growing signs of strain as knock-on effects of government cutbacks ripple through the country's fragile economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. The government, supported by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, argues that painful changes are necessary to put the country back on its feet after it nearly defaulted on its debt last year.

Germany said on Monday that a deal Finland struck with debt-wracked Greece for Athens to provide collateral in exchange for loan guarantees required the consent of all 17 eurozone members, Agence France-Presse reported. The agreement "must be approved by the other eurozone member countries," a finance ministry spokesman told a regular government press briefing. "Such a bilateral accord may not be agreed to the detriment of the others," he said, referring to the other countries coming to the aid of Greece.

Greece’s four largest banks agreed to take up a €50m convertible bond to help recapitalise Proton Bank, a small lender, the central bank announced this weekend, in what is being seen as an attempt to avert a run on the country’s fragile banking system, the Financial Times reported. The deal came ahead of an expected announcement this week that several Athens lenders plan to seek emergency liquidity assistance from the Greek central bank, senior bankers said.

Greece's gross domestic product contracted by an annual rate of 6.9% in the second quarter of the year, compared with a negative rate of 8.1% in the first three months of the year, the country's statistics service said Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported. These figures aren't seasonally adjusted, the Hellenic Statistics Authority, or ELSTAT, said in a statement, which means they aren't directly comparable with previous figures released for the first quarter. Quarterly data weren't provided.

George Soros, the US speculator turned billionaire philanthropist, has suggested both Greece and Portugal quit the European Union and the euro-zone because of their massive debts, Agence France-Presse reported. "One has so mishandled the Greek problem that the best way forward at present might be an orderly exit" with Greece leaving both the EU and the euro common currency, he said in an interview published Sunday by the German magazine Spiegel. He suggested the same might go for Portugal. "The EU and the euro would survive it," he added.

Greece's ambitious reform program suffered a double setback Wednesday after it emerged that talks with the country's creditors on a bond swap plan have stumbled and fresh data showed a sharp increase in the budget deficit, The Wall Street Journal reported. Citing poor private sector participation, officials said that a plan to swap Greek government debt maturing by 2020 into new, longer-dated securities, might be extended to include bonds falling due in 2022 or even 2024.