News In Brief

Greece’s troubles look worse on debt revision

Melissa Kaplan Apr 22, 2010

The European Union came out with a revision of Greece’s budget deficit which was worse than previously expected: Greece’s deficit was 13.6 percent of GDP last year. The news pairs with another strike by tens of thousands of Greek public workers demanding the government not cut spending as it continues crisis talks with the E.U. and IMF.

Investors are not encouraged by the news; European shares are down in trading. Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch was similarly shocked when he came to Bloomberg’s report this morning:

Things are looking bad for Greece. Again. It’s getting more and more expensive for the country to borrow money. Yields are scorching to new all-time highs on news the E.U. statistic office has discovered Greece’s deficit last year was higher than originally thought. Moody’s just downgraded the country’s debt, workers are going on strike, and everyone is once again looking at Germany asking, “whaddyagonnado?”

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