Category: Greece

Photo Newspapers were on display in central Athens on Tuesday, the deadline for Greece to make a debt payment of 1.6 billion euros to the International Monetary Fund. Credit Aris Messinis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images ATHENS — The International Monetary Fund said shortly after midnight Wednesday that Greece had missed a crucial debt payment to the fund. “We have informed our executive board that Greece is now in arrears and can only receive I.M.F. financing once the arrears are cleared,” said Gerry Rice, a spokesman for the fund. Greece is not technically in default, but missing the payment is yet another an unmistakable warning that the country will probably be unable to meet its other obligations in coming weeks, to its bond holders and to the European Central Bank . That may might make the European Central Bank, one of its principal creditors, less willing to continue emergency loans […]

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BRUSSELS — Seeking to calm a whirlwind of uncertainty that has battered global markets, opened deep fissures in European unity and threatened to push Greece out of the eurozone, European leaders insisted on Monday that a deal was still possible to settle Greece ’s spiraling debt crisis . But they gave no indication that this could happen before Athens runs out of cash to pay loans due on Tuesday. With only a day left before Greece’s current bailout package expires and the deadline arrives for a loan repayment of about $1.8 billion, alarm that it might miss the payment and eventually crash out of the group of 19 countries that use the euro prompted a flurry of statements from Brussels and major European leaders. They mixed reassurance and rebukes directed at Greece’s left-wing government with grave warnings that Europe’s future was at stake. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Europe’s […]

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BRUSSELS — Seeking to calm a whirlwind of uncertainty that has battered global markets, opened deep fissures in European unity and threatened to push Greece out of the eurozone, European leaders insisted on Monday that a deal was still possible to settle Greece’s spiraling debt crisis . But they gave no indication that this could happen before Athens runs out of cash to pay loans due on Tuesday. With only a day left before its current bailout package expires and the deadline arrives for a loan repayment of about $1.8 billion, alarm that Greece might miss the payment and eventually crash out of the group of 19 countries that use the euro prompted a flurry of statements from Brussels and major European leaders. They mixed reassurance and rebukes directed at Greece’s left-wing government with grave warnings that Europe’s future was at stake. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Europe’s dominant […]

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Photo The Nikkei 225 ended 2.9 percent lower on Monday, its weakest close since June 19. Credit Thomas Peter/Reuters PARIS — Stocks fell sharply in Europe and Asia on Monday, and markets in New York appeared headed for a slump at the opening bell, as Greece’s financial difficulties spread worries about possible broader harm to the global financial system, and Chinese investors endured another topsy-turvy session. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone blue chips fell 4.6 percent shortly after the opening and by midmorning was still off 3.5 percent. The FTSE-100 index in London dropped 2.2 percent to start, moving to 1.56 percent lower by midmorning. In Greece, b anks and markets are closed until July 6, after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras interrupted last-ditch debt negotiations early Saturday with the announcement that he was calling a referendum for July 5 on whether to accept the tough terms offered […]

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ATHENS—Greece shut down its banking system, ordering lenders to stay closed for six days starting Monday, and its central bank moved to impose controls to prevent money from flooding out of the country. The steps, a fateful climax to five years of debt crisis, put Greece closer than it ever has been to an exit from the euro and pushes the common currency itself into uncharted waters. The decision came after the European Central Bank—meeting in an emergency session Sunday—opted not to expand a lifeline of emergency funds that has been sustaining Greek banks while nervous depositors pulled their money out. In response, European stocks slumped Monday and the euro fell . Greece’s stock market will be closed for as long as banks are not open to the public, the country’s Capital Markets Commission said. On Athens’s rainy streets late Sunday, many ATMs had already been emptied. Prime Minister […]

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TOKYO/WELLINGTON The euro tumbled in Asian trading on Monday after Greece failed to strike a deal with its lenders, taking it a step closer to a debt default that could force its exit from the euro zone. The Swiss and Japanese currencies, both of which often appreciate during times of uncertainty on their perceived safe-haven status, were broadly higher. The euro EUR=EBS fell to a one-month low of $1.0955 on the EBS trading platform, about 2 U.S. cents from levels around $1.1165 late on Friday. It was last at $1.1018, down 1.3 percent on the day. "Ahead of the weekend, there seemed to be a market consensus that something would get done for Greece, so it was a rare occasion when the market takes position for the optimistic view," said Bart Wakabayashi, head of foreign exchange for State Street Global Markets in Tokyo. But the likelihood of a Greek […]

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TOKYO (This version of the story was refiled to correct grammar in first paragraph) U.S. stock futures and the euro fell almost 2 percent in early Asian trade on Monday as Greece looks set to default on its debt repayment this week, forcing Athens to impose capital controls to halt bank runs. The euro fell as much as 1.9 percent to $1.0955 EUR= , its lowest level in almost a month. Against the yen, the common currency dropped more than 3 percent to 133.80 yen, a five-week low. U.S. stock futures dived 1.8 percent ESc1, hitting a three-month low, while U.S. Treasuries futures price TYv1 gained almost two points. Asian shares look set to open lower, despite the Chinese central bank’s monetary easing on Saturday, as investors are seen flocking to safer assets on the spectre of an unprecedented debt default by a euro zone country. A cash-strapped Greece […]

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ATHENS/BRUSSELS Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called a referendum on austerity demands from foreign creditors on Saturday, rejecting an "ultimatum" from lenders and putting a deal that could determine Greece’s future in Europe to a risky popular vote. The surprise call marked the most dramatic twist yet in five-month negotiations between Greece and its lenders, plunging the cash-strapped nation into uncharted waters and risking a default and capital controls as hopes for an aid agreement faded. After a week of acrimonious talks in Brussels, Tsipras dismissed lenders’ proposals as "blackmail" before flying to Athens to huddle with ministers. After midnight, he appeared on television to announce plans for a referendum on July 5. "Our responsibility is for the future of our country. This responsibility obliges us to respond to the ultimatum through the sovereign will of the Greek people," Tsipras said in a televised address to the nation. The […]

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Photo Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece leaving a meeting in Brussels. The country and its creditors failed again to reach an agreement on revising the terms of a bailout package. Credit Yves Herman/Reuters BRUSSELS — With Greece ’s bailout set to expire at the end of the month, it is becoming clear that negotiators mean to go down to the wire. The brinkmanship brings with it the risks of reaching no agreement at all, or a last-minute deal that might do little to solve Greece’s underlying economic problems. “It looks like both sides are going to walk this to the precipice,” said Mujtaba Rahman, who heads the Europe practice for the Eurasia Group, a political-risk consultant firm. “But any deal that comes out of that is of course going to be more political and even more economically suboptimal.” On Thursday, for the fourth time in a week, a […]

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