Asian markets rise after Greek debt agreement
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - The Asian markets are up for the second day, just as Greece announces that the restructuring of its debt has been completed.
The Sony Corporation, the number one exporter of electronics, saw its shares rise by 4.3%, having at least 21% of its sales in Europe. At midday the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was up more than 1.1 and the Shanghai stock market up more than 0.4, bringing both to less than half the losses of the week. At midday Singapore was up 0.4, Tokyo 2, Seoul 0.9. The index in India, too, was up (+1.8).
The plan to save Greece from bankruptcy has been successful. The largest sovereign debt restructuring in history has seen the holders of treasury bills Greek accept losses of 74% on the value of their investments, coming to cut the public debt of Athens by more than 100 billion euros.
The Greek government has announced that the percentage of investors who accepted the restructuring is 95.7%, well above the minimum threshold of 75%.
Last month, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund had made this restructuring a condition for a new loan of 130 billion euros.
The debt restructuring allows a recovery of Greek banks, burdening the population with a heavy austerity: lower wages, unemployment at 21%, cuts to health care and pensions.
Analysts questioned by AsiaNews explain: "the cuts were necessary: it is true that this rescue is basically aimed at saving the banks, but the Greek people, too, had chosen to live beyond its means and now had a political leadership that pandered to them".
Nevertheless it remains true that "the saving of Greece is actually money given to its banks."
"For now", says Christine Lagarde, director of the IMF, "the numbers are promising ... The real risk of a crisis, an acute crisis has been removed"; Lagarde added that she is not "pessimistic" about the plan's possibility of success.
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11/08/2017 20:05
