Reuters economist poll: Greece not out of the Grexit…’woods’

Greece might have avoiding crashing out of the Eurozone by sealing a last minute agreement with its creditors Monday morning at the EU-19 Summit in Brussels, but an increasing number of pundits believe the risk of a Grexit is not off the table. A Reuters poll of nearly 60 economists conducted after the news of the agreement revealed they were skeptical about whether the deal would be beneficial for both Greece and Europe. 54 of those polled said that Greece would need some form of debt relief for its fiscal position to be sustainable. 30 per cent of those asked believed there would eventually be a Grexit, while Jonathan Loynes of Capital economics, who is one of those predicting Greece will leave the eurozone said the deal doesn’t solve at all Greece’s fundamental problem of ‘unsustainably high debt’. Economist at NordLB Christian Lips said for Greece it was “a gun to the head” and the only deal possible. Alluding to the 50 bln euro-Greek asset fund, Nick Stamenkovic, economist at RIA Capitals said it was very optimistic.  Another economist said “What are they going to do, sell Crete?”