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SYRIZA MP,
Costas Lapavitsas, during a recent interview in The Press Project website, analyzed among other things, the way through
which Greece could design a possible exit from the euro currency, in
order to be released from the ECB hegemony and build a growth plan.
Grexit would also allow SYRIZA to implement its program as promised.
As he said,
it has been proved that the internal devaluation was a tragic mistake
in Greece's case. The unit labor cost has been crushed, but we
haven't seen a boost in the exports until very recently, due to the
fall of euro. Euro has fallen against dollar so we had a boost in the
exports. Therefore, the perception that exports could save country is
wrong. In the case of Greece, the percentage of exports to GDP is
already small.
A possible
external devaluation would not function through the exports. The
Greek economy would not be saved through a boost in exports. It would
be a matter of the internal market to cover the local demand. This
would be the key role of the external devaluation and we could have
seen much better results in this field.
Greece does
not need a big external devaluation right now, exactly because the
labor cost has been crushed. All these measures that did not save the
country, destroyed labor cost. Therefore, a possible devaluation right
now would not have to be very big. A devaluation of 15-20% would be
quite enough.
Generally
speaking, current account balance is zero because of the recession,
therefore the pressure by the devaluation would not be very strong.
Of course, in such a case we should have control of the capital
flows. This would be a policy to limit the fall of the new parity.
Initially, it is possible to have a fall of parity higher than
15-20%. During the first weeks we would see a rapid fall because of
the speculative attacks, but it will not last too long. Parity for
the new Greek currency would be stabilized at 15-20% below the 1 to 1
related to euro. This would probably take a few months.
Initially,
at the time of the bigger devaluation, the government should take
certain measures to protect the economy and the country. The
government should secure financial sources to back the new currency.
There are some ways through which the government could do this.
As
Lapavitsas concluded, the reason for which we should examine the
possibility of returning to a national currency, is the full
implementation of SYRIZA's program. The key factor for the difficult
position of Greece is the European Central Bank which uses the
liquidity, meaning that Greece is not a sovereign state in the areas
of currency and liquidity. The country is fully dependent on the
ECB.*
The
whole interview (in English, the second video below):
It was quite
an interesting interview. However, Mr. Lapavitsas didn't mention a
key issue, which is the control of the central bank. In case of
returning to national currency, shouldn't Greece nationalize the
central bank (or establish a new one), so that the state to have
complete control of the monetary policy? Wouldn't this be essential
for the country to be protected by speculation, or, a new round of
financial war?
Many
officials of the past and present Greek governments avoid to answer
clearly. It seems that the answer to this question is still a taboo,
for some reason.
“The
IMF worried that a devaluation of the ruble would set off a round
of inflation. Its insistence on Russia maintaining an overvalued
currency and its supporting that with billions of dollars of loans
ultimately crushed the economy. (When the ruble was finally
devalued in 1998, inflation did not soar as the IMF had feared,
and the economy experienced its first significant growth.) [...]
For the oligarchs trying to get their money out of the country,
too, the overvalued exchange rate was a boon-it meant that they
could get more dollars for their rubles, as they squirreled away
their profits in foreign bank accounts.”
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It seem he doesn’t listen…It’s a pity. That man may be most likely after all an egomanic narcissist who cares only about himself. I suggest…to for a serious “boycottage” from his viewers so he will be left alone to realize his faults or at least that we are NOT sheep and do some practical stuff happen as an exchange. But if he does the same ridiculous charlatanism, we must do the same trick again. He is not to be trusted anymore.
ReplyDeleteOr he is an incredible genius and we miscalculated in some shape or form in the most complex way possible.
Anyway I will ring the bell to all his blog viewers to take a stand and stop giving him traffic, so he will learn his lesson. We don’t chew cheap pseudo-intellectualism of the buttocks which is all words and words and ZERO serious practical actions.
Spread this with good smart will at every well-known visitor of Varoufakis’ blog, so he will learn to behave and think.
DeleteThe article is about Lapavitsas' positions in case you didn't notice. Anyway, Varoufakis and Lapavitsas are two of the best economists participating in a Greek government ever. What you say is the usual narrative by the mainstream media and the oligarchs behind them, who see such brilliant economists participating in a Leftist government as a threat for their sovereignty over the majority.
I don't know under what basis you claim that Varoufakis and Lapavitsas are the best economists....
DeleteBesides, I reckon that you are ignoring the fact that both Varoufakis and Lapavitsas are Professors.
In real life Professors are no use, since theory and reality never meet. Things only get worse when you have them in charge; trust me I've seen this happening numerous times.
If you don;t understand what I am saying perhaps you need to look around you and judge for yourself. It only took few months and the economy is crippled.
If you still don't understand perhaps you have never worked in your life or you are just a fanatic.