alexrpt
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Oh Greece…not only did you get financially “waterboarded” by the EU…but the one country that took the hardest line against you, Germany, saved a whopping 100 Billion Euros during the entire process.
Add that to Germany’s 50 Billion Euros in Greek assets, that it now owns and will eventually seize when memorandum number three fails, and it does not take a genius to see that Germany came out the big winner in the most recent Greek debt crisis tragedy.
Via Sputnik News Agency…
Germany saved through lower interest payments on funds the government borrowed amid investor “flights to safety,” the German-based non-profit Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) said in its paper published Monday.
“These savings exceed the costs of the crisis – even if Greece were to default on its entire debt,” the study said. “Germany has clearly benefited from the Greek crisis.”
In the face of turmoil, investors seeking a safe haven for their money within the euro zone turned to export champion Germany, which “disproportionately benefited” from that during the debt crisis, the IWH said.
“Every time financial markets faced negative news on Greece in recent years, interest rates on German government bonds fell, and every time there was good news, they rose.”
Germany, the euro zone’s effective paymaster, has demanded fiscal discipline and tough economic reforms in Greece in return for consenting to new aid from international creditors, Agence France-Presse reported.
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has opposed a Greek debt write-down while pointing to his own government’s balanced budget.
The balanced budget, however, was facilitated largely by Germany’s interest savings amid the Greek debt crisis, according to the study. The estimated 100 billion euros Germany saved since 2010 accounted for more than 3% of GDP, according to the IHW.
“Even if Greece doesn’t pay back a single cent, the German public purse has benefited financially from the crisis,” said the paper.
At the same time, the bonds of other countries – including the United States, France and the Netherlands – also benefited, but “to a much smaller extent.”
References:
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150811/1025606214.html
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.