Greece’s Roman Road - Chapter 258

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“How did your three banks help the government to purchase government bonds?” Constantine asked with a frown after hearing Koledis’ words.

I was also shocked to hear that the three major banks have directly purchased 360 million drachma of national debt.

As the three largest commercial banks in Greece, Royal Bank of Greece, Alpha Bank, and National Bank of Greece have commercial outlets all over Greece, large and small cities and towns, with good reputation and are the first choice for Greeks to save.

It will not go bankrupt because of poor management or poor management like some small banks.

Now the three banks have invested a lot of money in national bonds. If there is a large run on depositors and the banks cannot return the funds of the people in time, the entire financial order of Greece will collapse.

As the mother of all industries, banks have a close relationship with almost everyone in the society. Once this happens, there will be a linkage reaction in the whole society, and the society will lose order.

By that time, Greece had not been defeated by the Bulgarian army, and the country was already in a mess.

In the situation of the three major banks, it is impossible to continue to buy government bonds.

Seeing the frowning expressions of Laris and Venizelos, they were obviously racking their brains to raise money.

Judging from Corradis’ tone, they had already discussed with the managers of the three major banks, and the government continued to issue them treasury bonds, but they were rejected by the three.

Now, the Venizelos government faces only two ways to increase revenue and reduce expenditure: either to raise funds to alleviate the government’s shortage of funds; or to cut some projects to save money.

Every day, as long as the Prime Minister’s residence opens its doors, there is an endless stream of people who come to pay the bills.

“His Royal Highness, Your Excellency Prime Minister, I propose to end some projects that are not very urgent in order to save money, such as spending on education, and spending on encouraging childbirth, as well as those that support industrial development,” said Finance Minister Laris.

“How is this possible? In terms of education funding, the proportion of government expenditures in the compulsory education stage was low, and the focus was on a few universities. Now that their teaching funds are stopped, you are not afraid of the students in the school coming to the Prime Minister’s residence. Pointing at our noses?” Venizelos said helplessly.

“As for the funds to encourage fertility, this is the main measure in Greece to encourage fertility. Once it stops, those families with multiple children will probably be in trouble. After all, with their income, you don’t want to see them holding children. Accusing the government of backtracking?

Laris walked up to the three of Corridis and said, “Or, we authorize the three major banks to urgently print a banknote to solve the government’s urgent needs.”

“The three major banks now have the right to issue the currency”

Aristina, the manager of Alpha Bank, immediately refused: “Mr. Minister of Finance, the three major banks do have the right to issue currency, but this is strictly restricted. We must have the corresponding precious metal as a deposit to print the corresponding banknotes.”

“Moreover, what the government needs is not a small sum. Printing hundreds of millions of drachmas in banknotes will cause severe inflation in Greece, and the current currency will depreciate sharply, which will cause domestic unrest.”

Printing paper money directly is equivalent to plundering the wealth of every citizen in Greece indiscriminately.

The sudden flow of a large number of banknotes into the market will boost prices in Greece, and the entire Greek economy will be severely affected.

Those rich with assets in their hands will become richer, while the vast majority of ordinary people need to pay more for the necessities of life.

Doing so would obviously spark social conflict.

Constantine was also hesitant now. He knew in his heart that Greece’s finances had indeed reached its limit. After all, it had just passed a war and did not give Laris, the finance minister, any breathing space, and he was about to prepare for another war.

What made the finance worse was that, considering the desolation of Macedonia, in order to speed up the development of Macedonia, Constantine also urged Venizelos to invest more money there to support and speed up the agricultural development of Greece.

Constantine also knew that his mentality was a little eager for success, but time was waiting for no one.

It’s been 93 years now, and he doesn’t want Greece, as a small third-rate country with low strength, to be reluctantly involved in the European war under the coercion of major powers.

Some people say that you can be neutral, just like Switzerland, both sides are not offended.

Insufficient strength, still thinking about fighting.

This is a very naive idea. If you want to be neutral, can you be neutral?

Neutrality also requires strength to rely on.

Look at the tragic situation in Belgium. Belgium is crying and wanting to be neutral, but is it useful?

Switzerland has been able to maintain its neutrality in all wars because it is tasteless and typically eats no meat, and it belongs to the indisputable place of the military.

It is such a place in the ravine of the Alps, what can you do if you shoot it down?

Looking at the performance of the Balkan countries in World War I in the original history, Serbia, as the initiator of World War I, was directly defeated by the German-Austrian coalition;

The Romanian first rat was swaying at both ends, but it was finally cleaned up;

Bulgaria is following the wrong big brother, no matter how good the performance is;

Greece was simply trembling, and neither side dared to offend. In the end, it was chased and put on the shelves. It was over before it started, and it joined the war at the end of 1997.

As mentioned earlier, Greece’s geographical location is important and it is an important transportation hub, guarding two straits.

In a European war like World War I, the more important the location, the less likely it is to escape.

Khushistantin knew in his heart that if Greece could not accumulate a certain amount of strength before World War I, then it would inevitably be a little brother who would serve as cannon fodder for others. In any case, the result would be a tragic ending.

Frustrated, Larry clapped his palm on the table with a “bang”, and said, “I’ve had enough, this won’t work, that won’t work, so what exactly?”

“Can we ask foreign bankers for help? We can borrow from foreign countries,” Venizelos said.

This suggestion was rejected directly in the hearts of the people.

International loans in this era come with a lot of conditions and high interest rates.

Even if the borrowing country is willing to pay such a price, do you think those funds will go to the borrowing country?

Impossible at all, these loans would be required to purchase supplies directly in the creditor country.

Moreover, the loaned money will not be repaid in full, and the bank providing the guarantee will also take a cut from it.

That is to say, the money was just transferred from one account in the bank of the creditor country to another account. The borrowing country never saw the cash from beginning to end, and then left with a debt of supplies.

This is not a loan, it is almost like stealing money!

Constantine, who couldn’t think of a good way to raise money for a while, asked the three of Koledis, “How did you raise and issue government bonds before?”

“The bank staff would visit the wealthy Greeks in person and sell them government bonds,” Corradis replied.

“As the financial industry, we are well aware of the wealthy in Greece and this has helped us with our treasury sales efforts”

“The funds raised are endorsed by the bank on behalf of the government, so % will be taken as remuneration”

“The remaining national debt quota will be directly made up by our three major banks”

“As you know, the rich are very few after all. The people in Greece who can afford a minimum one thousand drachma national debt are very few, and ordinary people can’t afford it at all. The government has asked our bank to issue it on its behalf several times. “Speaking of this, Kledis is a little embarrassed.

“Our bank staff frequently come to sell government bonds, and UU reading www.uukanshu.com makes those people complain.”

Can you not complain, there are so many national debts, and a few rich people are caught every day, and they are almost bald.

Constantine chimed in: “Are you positive about buying government bonds?”

“The interest on national debt is as high as 5%, far exceeding the interest on bank savings. Naturally, many rich people are willing to invest,” Adestina replied.

“Moreover, the Greek army has won consecutive battles, and the people are full of confidence in the strength of the Greek army. The government bonds issued by the government have a good reputation. Almost no one is worried that the Greek army will be defeated and will default on its debts.”

Constantine said in surprise: “So, in fact, many people want to buy government bonds. After all, there are not many financial products with such high yields.”