The IMF is Forcing Greece to Sell Its Assets; Among the 'Advisors' in These Sales are Rothschild & Sons, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup
First Up is Greece at Bargain Prices; Then It will be the Rest of the Nations Backed by the IMF
By creating economic crises and the collapse of a nation's economy, the Illuminati force those nations indebted to them to trade their assets -- gold, natural resources, and land -- for the backing of the International Monetary Fund, which they created and control. Once they own a nation's land and resources, they own and control that nation. They have made much progress toward this goal. Already every nation in the world is backed by the International Monetary Fund except the United States. Brazil, Argentina, Costa Rica, and other countries have been forced to trade assets and land to exonerate their debt. The specific plan to bring the U.S. under this monolithic control includes economic disruption, the collapse of more banks, and national bankruptcy. They believe that under these conditions most Americans will clamor for the "help" they offer, willingly trading our nation's land and resources for the backing of the International Monetary Fund to bail us out of our predicament. - Liberty Lost, F. Gregory Anderson, Circa 1993EU countries on the economic periphery, especially current and potential recipients of bailouts, have been pressured by EU finance ministers and the IMF to tighten monetary policy and come up with funds quickly to pay off debt, including through privatization. Last year, Spain announced it had started to look toward selling stakes in its national lotteries and airports, and Ireland agreed to privatizations in its gas and electricity sector. Portugal, which was granted an 80 billion euro bailout in early April, will be held to strict austerity measures including massive privatizations planned last year to raise 6 billion euros by 2013. Privatizations would occur in airlines, rail transport, postal, energy and paper industries. - ČEZ eyes Greek assets: Privatization push under way to avoid debt restructuring, The Prague Post, April 27, 2011
The international bankers that engineered this worldwide banking crisis are achieving their goal of consolidating the world's wealth into their hands.
As the IMF stepped up the pressure, Greece announced it was appointing a string of advisers to work on plans to privatise billions of state assets in an attempt to plug the hole in its finances. Deutsche Bank will advise on the possible sale of its slice of in OPAP, Europe's biggest betting company, while Barclays, Rothschild and Ernst & Young will work on the sale of a stake in Hellenic Motorways, said the Greek finance ministry, listing 15 privatisation projects. - IMF tells Greece to stop dragging its heels over reform, Telegraph, May 18, 2011
The IMF, ECB and EC announced plans so sell up to €50 billion of Greece’s assets. But why €50 billion? The point of departure is a table shown (above) by the IMF in its December 2010 review that lists public sector assets. The IMF shows that Greece had €195 billion in assets, broken down in the following categories: €12 billion in currency, €2 billion in securities, €1 billion in loans, €39 billion in shares, €21 billion in other financial assets, and €120 billion in public sector capital stock. There is also an “n/a” entry for real estate, pending the mid-2011 inventory, but the IMF notes that analysts have estimated real estate holdings at €200-€300 billion. - Greece’s €50 billion Privatization Challenge, Greek Default Watch, February 13, 2011
Eurogroup's Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs meetings of euro zone finance ministers, said Greece should set up a privatization agency independent of the government to help privatize state assets. He said that proceeds from the program should be considerably higher than the 50 billion euros Athens has proposed. - Greece needs privatization body, Reuters, May 23, 2011
Greece - 2011-2015 Privatisation Agenda
It’s a Greek Yard Sale: Pieces of Greece at Bargain Prices
May 19, 2011AdvanceLoan.net - Greece has appointed financial advisors for a host of privatization projects after fierce pressure by international lenders to speed up asset sales to reduce its debt.
The Greek government appointed Deutsche Bank and National Bank to advise it on plans to sell its 34 percent stake in Europe’s biggest betting company OPAP, worth about 2.1 billion dollars at current market prices.
Raising money
Greece has pledged to raise about 70 billion dollars from state asset sales by 2015. The finance ministry appointed advisors for 15 different privatization projects, including OPAP, motorway concessions, the natural gas company DEPA, the auctioning of frequency spectrum, state property and the state railway company OSE.
Among the companies hired are HSBC, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, Ernst and Young, Rothschild & Sons and Citigroup Inc.
Here is a list of potential privatizations:
Horseracing, lotteries and betting firms
The government is seeking investors to sell its 100% holding in Hellenic Horse Racing Co. It also owns a 34% stake in OPAP in Europe’s biggest betting firm and wants to set up a new company to assign its state lottery tickets rights and then privatize it.
Athens international airport (AIA)
The state owns 55% of the country’s biggest airport in Athens (AIA) and 40% is owned by German construction group Hochtief, which also manages the terminal. The government said it would extend Hochtief’s 30-year concession deal signed in 1995 and eventually seek a listing for the company.
Airbus aircraft
Here’s a possible bargain: The state wants to sell four Airbus A340 aircraft.
Real estate
The government will form one or more real estate holding companies to register and manage its real estate. Greece wants to exploit thousands of real estate objects worth billions of Euros across the country, including former Athens 2004 Olympics venues, as well as other buildings, land plots, hotels, beaches, thermal baths, marinas and casinos.
Gas operator (DEPA)
Greece is seeking a strategic partner in natural gas company DEPA. The privatization is expected to be concluded in the second half of 2011. DEPA is 65% government-owned, with the remainder held by Hellenic Petroleum, Greece’s largest refiner.
Defense companies
The government wants to consolidate and privatize some of its loss-making defense companies, including Hellenic Defense Systems (EAS), Hellenic Vehicle Industry (ELVO) and Hellenic Aerospace Industry (EAV).
Railway OSE
Greece has said it wants to sell a 49 percent stake in railway OSE, which loses about 1-billion Euros a year and has estimated debts of about 10 billion Euros. The government will try to sweeten the sale by closing loss-making routes and making other cost cuts.
Hellenic motorways
The government will set up a company, which will hold its rights on the country’s current toll roads and on any future infrastructure projects. It plans to later sell its stake in the company.
Frequency spectrum
The government said it wants to take advantage of its rights in the frequency spectrum. It has not provided any details.
Greece for Sale: Greece is Selling Everything That’s Not Nailed Down to Help Pay Off the Country’s Debt
March 23, 2011Wall Street Journal - Greece is selling everything that’s not nailed down to help pay off the country’s groaning debt pile.
Deal Journal colleague Alkman Granitsas is reporting that Greece will unveil plans to private state-owned assets with a target value of €15 billion by 2013 and €50 billion by 2015. Greece is looking to privatize everything from the national railroad company to regional airports and the national lottery system, Granitsas said.
The planned deals are a big deal for Greece, which essentially has been frozen out of capital markets after the country’s massive bailout from the European Union and the IMF. Greece is faced with a public debt crisis that has freaked out investors around the world and set off a spate of downgrades from the debt-rating agencies. Greece is even trying to sell “diaspora bonds” to people of Greek descent who want to invest in the mother land.
Granitsas said:
In a statement, the finance ministry said it had named France’s BNP Paribas SA (13110.FR) and the National Bank of Greece SA to act as advisers in its efforts to extend the privately managed concession for the Athens International Airport….
The committee also said it had appointed Citigroup Inc. and Piraeus Bank SA as financial advisers for a separate project to exploit the site formerly occupied by the old Athens airport in a suburb south of the capital. The plot, located in an upscale area of Athens, is expected to raise at least EUR5 billion from prospective developers.
Likewise, it named Lazard Ltd. as financial adviser in its plans to restructure and expand the commercial operations of the state-owned Loans and Consignment Fund.
Greece Tasked with 50-Billion-Euro ($67 Billion) Asset Sales, Reforms: EU-IMF
February 11, 2011AFP – The EU and the IMF on Friday told Greece to mount a massive privatisation drive worth 50 billion euros by 2015 and speed up reforms to keep alive hopes for a recovery of its debt-battered economy.
Auditors from the two organisations and the European Central Bank -- a 'troika' supervising Greece's recovery from near bankruptcy -- dropped the bombshell at the close of a quarterly review of Greek finances.
"It is well known that there is huge potential for privatisation," European Commission representative Servaas Deroose told a news conference.
"A comprehensive plan through 2015 will be finalised...aiming at proceeds of 50 billion euros ($68 billion) between 2011 and 2015," he said.
Out of that total, to be used for debt reduction, 15 billion is to come in the next two years, the EU official said.
IMF Mission chief Poul Thomsen spoke of a "socially desirable" privatisation, prompting one Greek reporter to wonder whether the authorities were being called to start flogging off the country's vaunted archaeological monuments.
The Greek government had originally planned to privatise state assets worth seven billion euros over three years. It had announced in November a sale list including four Airbus A340 jets and stakes in one of the country's top casinos and unspecified stakes in public-owned defense, train and mining companies.
The audit mission also reported Friday that Athens is "broadly" on track with tough austerity measures but noted some slippage, notably in revenue collection and spending control, and said "major reforms" were still needed.
"Major reforms still need to be designed and implemented to build a critical mass necessary to secure fiscal sustainability and economic recovery," it said.
Greece last May committed itself to the austerity plan after accepting a 110-billion-euro ($150-billion) loan from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to stave off imminent bankruptcy. It has so far drawn 38 billion euros from that package and Friday's assessment will determine the release of the next 15-billion-euro tranche in March. The three auditors said approval of their review by their respective organisations would allow for the money to be released.
The Socialist government of George Papandreou has already endured rising public anger and a flurry of strikes and protests to get this far in the fiscal adjustment plan. Last year it managed to slash the public deficit by an unprecedented six percentage points, to around 9.4 percent of economic output. Its objective is to bring the deficit to below three percent of output -- the level mandated under EU rules -- by 2014.
The cuts in public spending, wages and pensions, accompanied by successive tax hikes, have plunged the economy into a deep recession. It is expected to contract by three percent this year.
Unemployment shot up to 13.9 percent in November while inflation stayed above five percent in January, official data showed on Thursday.
The cutbacks have brought waves of strikes and work stoppages by civil servants, the main target of the austerity drive, in addition to other professionals including lawyers, doctors, pharmacists and teachers.
The IMF's Thomsen admitted Friday that Greece sought to implement an "undoubtedly difficult social program" and he could "understand people are not happy about that." But he noted that many of the protests were mounted by syndicated groups afraid of losing long-entrenched legal safeguards protecting them from free competition.
"Some of the groups...are angry because the government is doing a reform that takes away privileges, the privileges that.. prevent others from competing with these professions," Thomsen said.
Greece is currently trapped under a debt mountain of some 300 billion euros, a burden equivalent to 152.6 percent of output this year. There is now talk in Brussels of enabling Athens to buy back some of that debt with money borrowed from a eurozone crisis fund.
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