Greece Draws Up Drachma Plans, Prepares to Miss IMF Payment

Greece is drawing up drastic plans to nationalise the country's banking system and introduce a parallel currency to pay bills unless the eurozone takes steps to defuse the simmering crisis and soften its demands., report Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, & Mehreen Khan.

We are a Left-wing government. If we have to choose between a default to the IMF or a default to our own people, it is a no-brainer,” said a senior official.

Greece no longer has enough money to pay the IMF €458m on April 9 and also to cover payments for salaries and social security on April 14, unless the eurozone agrees to disburse the next tranche of its interim bail-out deal in time.

Accordint o Pritchard and Khan, the view in Athens is that the EU creditor powers have yet to grasp that the political landscape has changed dramatically since the election of Syriza in January and that they will have to make real concessions if they wish to prevent a disastrous rupture of monetary union, an outcome they have ruled out repeatedly as unthinkable.

This may well just be posturing. To date, the Greek government has shown a willingness to compromise with banksters and sell the Greek people out, let's see what occurs next week.

A default on bankster debt and a return to the drachma would be a positive step, if the Greek government planed to run a responsible conservative financial government. However, the present government is a radical left group without a clue as to what conservative finance is.

  -RW

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