Germany government gained from Greek crisis - IWH study

LONDON: -- The Greek debt crisis has saved the German government some €100bn (£70bn; $109bn) in lower borrowing costs because investors have sought safety in German bonds, a study has found.

Even if Greece defaults on all its debt, Germany would still benefit, says the German IWH institute.

Greece is hoping to reach a third bailout agreement, worth up to €86bn, with its creditors this week.

Germany has funded €90bn so far and wants tough conditions for a new deal.

Full story: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33845836


-- BBC 2015-08-11

if they really gained 100 billion so far, better get out of the game now when greece wants another 86 billion ...

funny news a few days ago, greece paid back 123 MILLION

now only wanting another 86 billion

"Germany" government? Someone was asleep during the "Nationalities" class at school.

http://www.iwh-halle.de/?lang=e

All here - including OP and BBC - are swimming on the surface of the "Greec/German water" and didn't dive deeply. Why?

• They refer to a study of the German IWH institute, Halle, which isn't impartial. It's only one side of a coin. The positive side is that all governments - federal, state and municipalities - had to pay lower interests for their budget loans. That means the public sector was/is a winner, because the ECB reduced the base rates drastically, starting in 2008 during the US and EU financial crises. A similar interest drop also happened in the US, GB, Japan, Canada etc.

• The negative side of the coin: the people - like you and me - lost a lot of interest yields because of the near zero rates, when they bought state bonds etc. Thus the state budgets lost a lot of tax money as interest is taxable in general by 25%. The yearly tax exempt amount is only 801 € for singles or 1.602 € for a married couple.

• The Greece problem was only one reason for the reduced interests, among others, i.e. the economic problems especially in the Southern EU states.

This interest loss for the people with the tax loss for the state and the EU economic problems are not mentioned in this IHW study as a reason for the low interest rates, a fundamental mistake. So, the German government "gained" 100 billion -->

Therefore it's better to talk about the weather.

....they should share....

Germans have only one word ("teilen") for "share" and "divide", and they get paranoid about the idea that someone wants to take away something from them.