Showing posts with label bankruptcy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bankruptcy. Show all posts

Thursday, November 1, 2012

IMF says Greek loan talks stuck as bankruptcy looms

ATHENS: Greece's negotiations with international lenders for desperately needed rescue funds some two weeks before bankruptcy looms are stuck, the IMF said Thursday, sending Greek stocks plunging.

The International Monetary Fund said the talks were stalled over the conditions for financing Greece as it seeks a two-year extension to meet fiscal goals.

While Athens has made "good progress" on fiscal and structural reforms, IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said in Washington, "an understanding must also be reached between Greece and its creditors on financing terms consistent with debt sustainability."

That news triggered a five percent drop in Athens' main ATHEX stock index, which tumbled below the 800 point level to close at 761.24 points.

Shares in banks, which are awaiting some of the rescue money to shore up their capital, were the worst hit, with the banking stocks sub-index down by 11.7 percent.

Greece, the IMF, the European Union and the European Central Bank, known as the troika, have been locked in discussions for weeks on revising terms for the country's bailout after it fell short of targets which needed to be met for the release of the next installment of funds from the three lenders.

Athens has asked for the fiscal targets to be pushed back another two years, to give it more room to rekindle economic growth after a crushing austerity programme sent it into a deeper recession than the lenders had expected.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has said the coffers in Athens will run dry on November 16 -- when a three-month treasury bill worth five billion euros must be repaid -- unless his country receives the next 31.2 billion euros ($40.4 billion) in rescue funding.

Samaras had announced on Tuesday that his government had agreed with the mission of troika auditors in Greece on the terms of a new 13.5 billion euro austerity package needed to unlock the next instalment of rescue loans.

Accordingly, the finance ministry on Wednesday introduced a budget and a three-year economic programme pledging the required level of cuts in 2013-14.

But on the same day the European Commission warned that a debt deal with Athens was still pending. Eurozone finance ministers are due to make a final decision on the payout by November 12.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble of Germany, Europe's paymaster, noted that considerable progress had been made in the talks with Greece "but there is still a lot of work to do."

The 2013 Greek budget gives a grim picture of the outlook for the country.

It predicted that gross domestic product in Greece -- already in its fifth year of recession -- would shrink by 4.5 percent compared with a forecast of 3.8 percent a month ago, although below the 6.6 percent decline expected for this year.

The 2013 public deficit forecast was raised to 5.2 percent from the previous prediction of 4.2 percent.

The government is planning 9.4 billion euros ($12.2 billion) in cuts which will affect mainly state wages, pensions and benefits that have already been drastically reduced over the past two years.

But it will still need to borrow over 68 billion euros next year, the draft budget said.

"If the deal does not pass... the country will be led to chaos," Samaras warned on Tuesday.

The IMF on Thursday also pushed for wealthy Greeks to pay their fair share of the tax burden amid uproar in Greece over a list of alleged tax evaders.

Greek investigative journalist, Costas Vaxevanis, was arrested Sunday after publishing the so-called Lagarde list, named after IMF chief Christine Lagarde, who in her previous position as French finance minister in 2010 passed a roster of some 2,000 Greeks holding Swiss bank accounts to the Greek government.

The crushing austerity measures in Greece, with no sign of relenting, have led unions to threaten more social unrest, announcing a 48-hour general strike starting November 6 to coincide with debates next week on the budget and other reform measures.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Chok Tong accept Chee Soon Juan's S$30,000 offer

SINGAPORE: Former Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong have accepted opposition politician Chee Soon Juan's offer to pay S$30,000 to discharge himself from bankruptcy.

Senior Counsel Davinder Singh of Drew & Napier LLC said this in a statement on Friday.

Dr Chee, who is the Secretary-General of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), was declared a bankrupt in 2006 after he failed to pay damages totalling S$500,000 to Mr Lee and Mr Goh.

This followed a defamation suit brought on by the two over remarks Dr Chee made during the 2001 General Election.

Earlier, in a statement on September 11, Dr Chee said Mr Lee and Mr Goh had indicated that they would accept his offer of S$30,000 to annul his bankruptcy.

The SDP posted an email dated September 7 from the Official Assignee to Dr Chee on its website, saying that Dr Chee's creditors - Mr Lee, Mr Goh and the Attorney-General's Chambers - had no objection to his offer of composition of S$30,000.

Dr Chee said he will be working to raise the amount, primarily through the sale of his books.

He added that he was looking forward to being formally cleared of his bankruptcy so that he would be eligible to stand in the next General Election, due in 2016.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Italy backs urgent measures to avoid bankruptcy

ROME (AFP) - Italy's cabinet on Sunday adopted a package of tax hikes, budget cuts and pension reforms worth 20 billion euros (S$34.4 billion) in a rush to avoid a bankruptcy that threatens to bring down the euro zone.

'This is a decree to save Italy,' Prime Minister Mario Monti said at a press conference after the cabinet meeting, adding: 'This is a moment in which Italy risks being responsible for helping to drag down the economy of Europe.'

Italy will 'put its deficit and debt under strong control' so that the country is 'not seen as a suspicious flash point by Europe,' he said. He also warned that Italians had to make 'sacrifices' and said he was renouncing his own salary as prime minister in a gesture of solidarity.

The three-year package includes a controversial pension reform that will increase the minimum pension age for women to 62 starting next year and fall into line with men by 2018, by which time both will retire at 66.
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