"We will exit the crisis in mid-2014"

There is no hope of finding a way out of the unprecedented economic crisis experienced by the Greek society, and it seems that we are doomed to spend another three hard years dealing with it.

This message was conveyed by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, on Tuesday night; however, he was adamant that there is no issue of collateral securities in order to ensure that the country’s borrowing needs will be met.

Speaking in a financial conference at a central Athens hotel, Mr. Venizelos stated: “ Our target is for the country to exit the crisis in 2014”.

This particular goal is clearly consistent with the descriptions of the Medium-Term Plan, but the reiteration of Mr. Venizelos is obviously important, especially as it all comes after a tragic day for the ASE and a few days after the  unprecedented recession announced for the second quarter.

The Finance minister, however, was categorical that there is no talk of collateral securities for loans. “We managed to get any harassing and insulting requests for collateral out of the way”.

He added that the discussions taking place with the partners are purely financial in nature. All this took place a few hours after the German Labour Minister’s statements about loans with collateral based on gold reserves, and while Berlin sources made mention of the fact that her statements were not the official stance of the German government.