It’s time to dust off the old cheque book and keep an eye on what’s happening in Greece. You may just find something you want to purchase as Greek officials begin appointing advisers for the country’s ambitious privatisation drive, and what is one of the most ambitious asset-selling campaigns in modern history.

Prime Minister George Papandreou has even cancelled his summer holiday in order to speed up the process that his father, Andreas, Greece’s socialist premier in the 1980’s, did much to help create.

The Greek finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, explains the immediate goals:

Our target is clear, and it is to generate €1.7 billion from privatisations by the end of September and €5 billion by the end of the year.

The selling of prime assets comes on the back of a second aid package Greece received which is being used to support an economy now dependent on international handouts to pay things like public wages and pensions.

The sales are also dependent on the next payment of aid in September. Lenders have warned that if progress is not satisfactory, there may be complications with the delivery of further financial aid.

Germany has already expressed interest in buying into the energy and tourism sectors and India is also keen to get a further foothold into the European markets.

This has meant that “For Sale” signs have begun appearing on everything from Olympic venues to exotic Mediterranean islands hideaways.

It’s rumoured that Athens may own up to €300 billion in assets, almost as much as the total debt amount owed, and this should steer the country in the right direction in order to achieve the €50 billion 2015 target.

Of course there is always the threat that assets may fall into the wrong hands, as Yiannis Panagopoulos, president of the Confederation of Greek Workers, the country’s biggest labour grouping, explains:

In a buyer’s market our biggest concern is that this entire process will only serve to benefit the forces of capitalism and do nothing to create development.

He continued to say that they will strongly oppose the sale of assets like the water board and any other asset with significant government vested interest.

[Source: Guardian]