The sum which forms the title of this piece is the amount of money owed by Greece to the United Kingdom; I do not know how much is owed by the UK to Greece.
Even these days, when we are wont to talk of "billions" when once we spoke of "millions," $8.5 billions is a great deal of money, though Greece's indebtedness to France, at nearly $40 billions must be very worrying for the French.
I see that the Greek prime minister Mr Samaras, has remarked on "a breathing space" for Greece following the deal struck with the EU; Greece will now start to receive its next "bail-out" - which will total in excess of €40 billions, 23 billions of which will go to re-capitalising Greek banks.
Apparently part of the deal includes Eurozone creditors writing-off a substantial proportion of Greece's debt which currently stands at about 180% of GDP. We must feel sorry for the French who will obviously be hit hard by write-offs. I have been very critical of all UK governments over the years, but I must acknowledge their wisdom at least in keeping us out of the accursed Euro.
It would be interesting to know who in his right mind would have loaned money to Greece in the first place; it is well-known that Greece massaged its accounts (i.e. lied) in order to gain entry to the Euro - back in 2001 - and the availability of low-cost loans in consequence have served to compound the country's insolvency. One must assume that presumably armed with such information, the lenders were in charitable mood at the time that the loans were made.
If they are still in that frame of mind, I wouldn't mind taking out a large loan myself - one that they can write off after 11 years.
Until the next time
