George Papandreou’s shock announcement that he will put Greece’s bailout to a referendum helped the FTSE open nearly three per cent down this morning. It was interesting listening to Lindsay Williams on 2oceanVibe Radio a little earlier too. He remarked that there are more Porsche Cayennes registered in Greece than taxpayers declaring an income of 50 000 euros or more. Clearly Greeks aren’t fans of paying tax.
Reports coming out of the East and Europe this morning paint a dismal picture for Greece. The Euro had already slipped to a 10 year low against the Yen and a six month low against the dollar in overnight trading. Bloomberg thinks Germany might give up on Greece because a Greek default is probably inevitable.