Bailout

Greece wants to repay loans owed to its lenders from the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund before they are due in a bid to cut its debt servicing costs, its finance minister said on Tuesday.

Greece can use this year's improved budget numbers to change policies, as long as the government discusses them first with the country's creditors, the Managing Director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), Klaus Regling, said in an interview with Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, published on Tuesday.

The economic sentiment index recorded a significant decline last month, dropping to 101.3 points from 105.3 points in July, the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) announced on Monday, saying that this was largely due to the deterioration in expectations in the sectors of industry and construction.

Greece's bailout programs were too long, too hard and led to many failures, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the former head of the Eurogroup, conceded in an interview with the French service of Euronews.

Greek bank deposits rose in August for a seventh consecutive month, increasing by 1.33 billion euros ($1.56 billion) central bank data showed on Thursday.

Businesses and household deposits rose to 131.57 billion euros from 130.24 billion in June, the Bank of Greece said.

Among the many things that Greece needs to leave behind in its bid to get back on track in the post-bailout era is the buccaneering nature of businessmen who would openly shun any regulations concerning corporate governance and violate basic codes of morality.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) stuck to its guns concerning Greece's planned pension cuts on Thursday, saying that they should be implemented to "improve the country's long-term prospects" and send a "clear signal" to investors that the government remains committed to agreed reforms.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) stuck to its guns concerning Greece's planned pension cuts on Thursday, saying that they should be implemented to "improve the country's long-term prospects" and send a "clear signal" to investors that the government remains committed to agreed reforms.

In May 2011, while googling around obscure Greek blogs in search of a fresh voice to liven up a story I planned to do on how Greeks were coping with the early days of post-bailout recession, I came across the musings of one Yanis Varoufakis.

I sent him a note:

Dear Professor Varoufakis.

Whether or not pensions will be cut in January, in line with an agreement between Greece and its international creditors, is not something that will be decided now but over the coming months.