Germany Making Big Euros Off Greek, Eurozone Crisis

When Greece makes a $3.98 billion loan payment this month to the European Central Bank, one of its international lenders in bailouts, Germany – which is putting up much of the rescue monies – will reap the biggest profit, eFXnews reported.

FT Deutschland noted that by 2026, when Greece is expected to finish paying off $325 billion in two bailout packages, that Germany could realize $15.8 in gains. In the meantime, Germany has already made significant gains from the very low interest rate it paid to finance its debt as shown in the calculations of economist Jens Boysen-Hogrefe of Germany΄s Kiel Institute, Handelsblatt reported.

According to these calculations, over the past three-and-a-half years, Germany saved $84.7 billion in interest costs compared to its average rate from 1999 to 2008. The Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank is putting up the lifeline loans for Greece while EU funds have also gone to Portugal, Ireland and Spain.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has insisted on harsh austerity measures for Greece to insure that investors – primarily banks – get paid back first ahead of Greek tax revenues going to salaries, pensions and social programs.

(source: eFXnews, Capital)