The Greeks said 'NO.' 61% voted against accepting the latest bailout package offered to them by their European creditors. Here's a tour of the many thoughts about what's next for Greece.
[Picture Source: Drudge Report Headline]
Greece Says 'NO'; Thousands Celebrate; Emergency Summit Called (Business Insider)
The landslide victory for the "No" campaign is a major surprise. Athens exploded in celebration over the result, with thousands streaming into Syntagma Square, waving Greek flags, chanting, and setting off fireworks.
But the party could be short-lived. A "No" (Oxi) vote will mean that Greece will likely default on almost all its remaining debt, maybe exit the EU, abandon the euro and re-adopt its old currency, the drachma. That would plunge Greece into even more economic turmoil as it would become an international pariah, largely cut off from the credit markets countries need to finance themselves.
Ending Greece's Bleeding (Paul Krugman, NY Times)
Europe dodged a bullet on Sunday. Confounding many predictions, Greek voters strongly supported their government’s rejection of creditor demands. And even the most ardent supporters of European union should be breathing a sigh of relief.
Of course, that’s not the way the creditors would have you see it. Their story, echoed by many in the business press, is that the failure of their attempt to bully Greece into acquiescence was a triumph of irrationality and irresponsibility over sound technocratic advice.
More Headlines:
Greece votes No — now what? (FT.com)
No vote puts Greece’s euro future in doubt (FT.com)
Jubilation in Syntagma tinged with fear (FT.com)
Greek banks prepare plan to raid deposits to avert collapse (FT.com)
Sugar, flour, rice: panicked Greeks stock up on essentials (Yahoo Finance)
Greeks Reject Austerity, Setting Up Euro Showdown (Bloomberg)
How Bad Is ‘No’ for Greek Banks? Analysts Split on ECB Lifeline (Bloomberg)
EL-ERIAN: Prepare for a global stock market sell-off (Business Insider)
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The “Nightmare Of The Euro-Architects” Is Coming True: JPM Now Sees Grexit, Eurogroup “Split In Coming Days” (Zero Hedge)
[Here] is JPM’s Malcom Barr with the bank’s latest take on Greece which is that at this point, a Grexit is JPM’s “base case”… and it only goes downhill from there.
After the “big no”, euro exit is our base case
- After the “big no” it is now a race between two forces: political pressure for a deal, versus the impact of banking dysfunction within Greece
- Although the situation is fluid, at this point Greek exit from the euro appears more likely than not
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Our base case is that the pressures coming from a dysfunctional banking system in Greece will shorten the time horizon to negotiate a deal to a handful of weeks. As that pressure builds, there is likely to be a temptation to call a referendum in Greece on euro membership, and for the state to begin issuing I-O-Us or similar and giving these some status as legal tender. To the extent that pensioners and public sector employees find themselves being paid with such instruments, it takes the banks further away from solvency (they have liabilities in euros, but will have loans to individuals being paid or receiving “i-o-u” s which will be worth a lot less). Meanwhile, we expect at least some countries in the rest of the region (not least Germany) will not hurry over the design of a new program, and will find it difficult to get parliamentary assent for any such program.
This is a path that suggests to us that there is now a high likelihood of Greek exit from the euro, and possibly under chaotic circumstances. Perhaps the rest of the region will agree to a reasonably quick deal, or the ECB will raise ELA enough to retain minimal viability in the payments system. Perhaps the pressures of dysfunctional banks will force Mr Tsipras to stand down, and a deal is subsequently made. But for now, we would view a Greek exit from the euro as more likely than not.
More Sellside Reactions To The Greek Referendum (ZeroHedge)
Today, Greeks sent a resounding message to Brussels, Frankfurt, and Berlin that they are not willing to acquiesce to further humiliation at the hands of creditors and that, even if it means braving the economic abyss in the short-term, the country is determined to salvage a better tomorrow from what, after today's referendum, are the smoldering ashes of Greece's second bailout program.
Now, a stunned sellside — which had, over the past three months, very carefully tweaked their base cases to reflect the growing risk of Grexit — is scrambling to explain to nervous clients what happens next.
Having heard from JPM earlier, we bring you the latest from Barclays, Deutsche Bank, and RBC.
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From Barclays:
A “no” vote means EMU exit, most likely
We argue that an EMU exit would become the more likely scenario, even if Greece remaining in the euro area cannot be ruled out. Agreeing on a programme with the current Greek government would be extremely difficult for EA leaders, given the Greek rejection of the last deal offered. EA leaders accepting all Greek proposals would be a difficult sell at home, especially at the Bundestag or in Spain ahead of the general elections.
How will the crisis play out? The bank liquidity crisis is likely to turn into a solvency crisis once the ECB shuts down ELA, probably no later than 20 July (when a EUR 4.2bn payment to the ECB becomes due). Fiscal problems would become more acute; the government may be forced to issue IOUs, which effectively become a parallel currency to the euro. A new currency by the central bank of Greece is likely to eventually become necessary to inject both liquidity and recapitalise banks. At this stage, we would expect IOUs to be converted into the new Greek drachma (NGD).
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In short, the existing contracting framework and financial infrastructure would be broken and need to be rebuilt. Inflationary finance would likely be used, to some extent at least, to replace the official finance that now supports Greece. Politically difficult fiscal and structural reforms would still be required to make the country more competitive, and promote economic growth.
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From RBC:
In a normal referendum the next steps would be binary––something happens or it doesn’t. But this is no ordinary referendum.
We argued last week that the next steps for a ‘no’ or a ‘yes’ vote look superficially similar. The government and creditors will have to start negotiations on a third programme (since the second one expired on Tuesday). Both sides indicated they were willing to do so even in the event of a ‘no’.
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The first thing to watch is how Syriza responds
On Thursday, Greek Prime Minister Tsipras claimed in the event of a ‘no’ outcome, he would be in Brussels within 48 hours signing a deal. In practice that is almost impossible––any new deal will need a lot of technical work so at best is a few weeks away. But in the first 48 hours there should be some sign of what willingness there is to compromise on both sides. If Tsipras takes a defiant tone (citing the democratic choice of the Greek people) we expect Europeans leaders to respond that they are also democratically elected (as they did after the January election). In that case we would expect the market reaction to worsen.
The second thing to watch is how the ECB responds
The Governing Council is expected to meet on Monday to take stock of the situation. A Greek government spokesperson revealed that the Central Bank of Greece would submit a request to the ECB for a further increase to the ELA facility limit, which currently stands at €89.4bn. This follows from various press reports, including Bloomberg, indicating that Greek banks were struggling to cope with deposit withdrawals even with the capital controls already in place. Note that prior to the weekend, the head of Greece’s banking association, Louka Katseli, said that ‘liquidity is assured until Monday, thereafter it will depend on the ECB decision.” She added that the liquidity cushion banks currently had stood at about EUR 1bn.
We nevertheless consider there to be limited prospect of further extension to ELA at this stage, with the risks instead skewed towards the Governing Council restricting access to the facility, including by increasing collateral requirements further. An increase to the ELA limit was not a ‘given’ even if the referendum had yielded a ‘yes’ outcome, and as such a ‘no’ vote makes that decision even more difficult, in our view. Recall that ELA lending requires banks to post “adequate collateral”, and may only be provided to “illiquid but solvent” institutions. In the current environment, whether such conditions are satisfied is predicated in part on a judgment about the likelihood of a new financial assistance programme being agreed for the Greek sovereign.
Does this mean euro exit?
A ‘no’ outcome certainly increases the risk. This is particularly the case if the Greek government believes that it will have substantially more bargaining power with the institutions and brings more ‘red lines’ to the negotiating table. Much will depend on the tenor of discussions when they begin next week.
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From Deutsche Bank
There are three near-term implications of the results.
First, the vote marks a big political victory for PM Tsipras. Today's vote will allow the PM to maintain the political initiative within Greece, re-enforcing his leadership within the party as well as the government. It will be perceived by the government as a strong backing around its tough negotiating strategy.
Second, the poll masks a deeply divided electoral body. The win to the "no" vote was decisive. But opinion polls over the last few days have continued to show an overwhelming support for euro membership. How this can be reconciled with the "no" vote and rising economic costs remains to be seen in coming days. Either way, the referendum process itself and the outcome has increased polarization in Greece. Political tension both within parliament and in potential political demonstrations will be ongoing and unpredictable.
Third, the referendum result now requires Europe to more formally adopt a position on Greece, particularly given the size of the "no." The European message on whether rejection is equivalent to Eurozone exit has not been consistent, with both Merkel and Schauble in particular not adopting this interpretation. A more clear reaction from Eurozone members should now be expected.
Next steps
In coming hours, the focus will shift back to the European response.
Most imminently, Greek bank ELA liquidity is likely to be fully exhausted over the next few days, leading to an exhaustion of ATM cash reserves as well as an inability to finance imported goods via outgoing payments. The hit to the economy will be big. The Bank of Greece is holding a conference call with the Greek banks this evening to discuss the liquidity situation.
The ECB is scheduled to meet tomorrow morning to decide on ELA policy. An outright suspension would effectively put the banking system into immediate resolution and would be a step closer to Eurozone exit. All outstanding Greek bank ELA liquidity (and hence deposits) would become immediately due and payable to the Bank of Greece. The maintenance of ELA at the existing level is the most likely outcome, at least until the European political reaction has materialized. This will in any case materially increase the pressure on the economy in coming days.
On the political front, focus will now shift to whether the damaged relationship between Greece and Europe's creditors can be repaired and the immediate prospect of a resumption in negotiations. PM Tsipras last week officially applied for a 3rd ESM program, but the application was rejected pending the outcome of the referendum..
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The prospect of ongoing and unpredictable shifts in politics cannot be ruled out over the course of the next few weeks given rising pressure on the economy.
