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To: RJA_ who wrote (73235)	4/15/2010 10:02:26 AM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Respond to of 74559

IMF Head: Greece Has Requested Talks On Multi-Year Financing By Tom Barkley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The head of the International Monetary Fund confirmed Thursday that Greek authorities requested talks on a multi-year financing deal, as part of a joint rescue package with euro-zone countries. "Following a request by the Greek authorities, I have agreed to send an IMF team to Athens to begin discussions with the Greek authorities this coming Monday on policies that could provide the basis for fund financial assistance, under a multi-year program, in the case that the authorities decide to ask for such assistance," IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a statement. "The Greek decision to initiate fund program engagement is consistent with the agreement among European leaders last weekend that financial support from members of the euro area should go hand-in-hand with IMF engagement and financial assistance," he said. Earlier Thursday, Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou sent a letter to Strauss-Kahn and European leaders asking for "discussions" about an aid package in case the need for financing arises. Last Sunday, finance ministers from the 16 countries that use the euro agreed on a joint rescue plan for Greece that would include as much as EUR30 billion from other euro-zone members in the first year. The IMF is also expected to contribute EUR15 billion, though the amount hasn't been announced. -By Tom Barkley, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9275

To: RJA_ who wrote (73235)	4/16/2010 12:09:07 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	1 Recommendation Respond to of 74559

Greece - a government of IDIOTS and shills (what where they thinking - extorting the other EU member for their wasteful ways? - plain shameful bastards) The IMF may demand Greece cut pension payments and spending on civil servants as a condition of the loan, according to Giada Giani, an economist at Citigroup Inc. in London. The measures may spark unrest in Athens where union members occupied the Finance Ministry last month in protest over spending cuts already adopted by the government. ‘Important Step’ The Athens meeting “is an important step as it links the availability of external financing to Greece implementing a set of structural reforms,” Giani said yesterday in a research note. “These probably will go well beyond the tightening measures that Greece has put in place up to now, which may help to reduce the deficit for 2010 but do little to tackle Greece’s long-term solvency issues.” The austerity measures “will hurt, but think what would have happened with bankruptcy,” Papandreou told the Greek parliament today. Two-thirds of Greeks disapprove of the way the government is handling the crisis, according to a nationwide Public Issue poll for Skai media group released today. The country’s biggest union pledged “dynamic” resistance to any cuts in pensions. bloomberg.com Papandreou has said he will seek to raise the retirement age and the government is preparing other changes to trim spending in the country’s pension system, considered one of the EU’s most generous. Greece’s biggest union warned today that it will call more strikes if the government proceeds with the pension overhaul. (let them starve they deserve it!!)