Greece is ready to start selling assets, according to the Wall Street Journal, but Corfu and the Parthenon are not on the auction block (no surprise there).
Instead, the government figures that by selling its stakes in a bank and a betting company, as well as its share of the national telecommunications company, it can raise €2.5 billion ($3.76 billion)—the equivalent of 1% of gross domestic product, its target for this year. That would only scratch the surface of Greece’s debt—which has surpassed the country’s €250 billion-a-year GDP—but would underscore for financial markets that Athens is serious about fixing its public finances.
The government also may put up for sale its shares in 15 other companies, including the water utility in Athens, a leading oil refiner, and several casinos. The Finance Ministry also wants to get rid of some Airbus A340 planes that it owns from the years before the country’s debt-ridden national carrier, Olympic Airlines, was privatized.
P.S. I love the transliterated name of the betting company: the Organization for Prognostication on Soccer Matches.
That…would underscore for financial markets that Athens is serious about fixing its public finances.
Really? Moves that merely cause future sacrifices (by reducing future revenues) shows seriousness? Seems to me more reflective of the mindset that got them into this mess: sacrifice the future for benefits today.