(ANSAmed) - ATHENS, APRIL 23 - The European Investment Bank
(EIB) is hedging itself against a Greek exit from the eurozone
by inserting drachma clauses in the loan deals it signs with
Greek enterprises, as daily Kathimerini reports.
The first such deal was two weeks ago when the management of
Public Power Corporation (PPC), the country's electricity giant
began negotiating with the EIB about a 70-million-euro loan to
fund its new natural-gas-powered plant at Megalopoli in the
Peloponnese. The EIB proposed for the first time two new terms,
one of them being the possible renegotiation of the agreement
should Greece leave the eurozone or should the common currency
area break up. The second was placing the agreement under
British law, in case of any irregularities in the payback
process. EIB sources suggest that the currency-change clause
will be included in all contracts with countries applying
economic stability programs (Greece, Portugal and Ireland) and
gradually expand to all eurozone countries. The EIB has
committed itself to issuing loans of 600 million euros up to
January 2013 to the Greek market, to climb to 1.4 billion euros
by the end of 2015. (ANSAmed).
