The Minister of Finances Yannis Stournaras appeared on SKAI TV’s central news program last night, where he addressed the possibility of a new debt haircut and he rumors that he is going to be appointed Governor of the Bank of Greece.
Mr. Stournaras explained that there is no chance of a debt haircut as such a practice would not only destabilize the Eurozone, it would also set Greece outside of the euro. The Minister explained that “the PSI is one thing, to damage the German, Austrian or the people of countries poorer than Greece with a haircut is another”. This does not rule out the possibility of a debt restructure though. Mr. Stournaras appeared certain that Greece’s partners would take the necessary steps in order to initiate discussion in February.
When asked about the rumors of him being replaced and appointed as Governor of the Bank of Greece, Mr. Stournaras responded that he did not have the time to be concerned with the matter and that he was focused on his current job. He also added that he has an excellent relationship with government Vice President Venizelos and had the full support of Prime Minister Samaras.
The Minister explained that “we have achieved 80% of what needs to be done, we have eradicated the cause of the crisis, we have a primary surplus and we eradicated the deficit in the trade balance”, while noting that he would rather see the troika delay its return to Greece “so that we have December’s final data”.
Mr. Stournaras asserted that neither businesses, nor the troika will insist upon the deregulation of mass dismissals and repeated his claim that 70% of the primary surplus will be distributed amongst the weaker social classes. The Minister also supported the managing consultant of the Financial Stability Fund Anastasia Sakellariou.
