Rothchilds to help Greece re-enter the markets

The Greek government has confirmed that it has retained the services of the Rothchild investment banking group, as technical consultants, to help the country prepare for a return to borrowing from the financial markets.

Government spokesperson Dimitris Tzanakopoulos made the announcement yesterday Tuesday, confirming that Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos sent a letter to the board of the Public Debt Management Agency on January 25, asking for the immediate hiring of a technical consultant to prepare for Greece's attempts to resume borrowing from financial markets.

The agency's board sent a reply naming the Rothschild investment bank on January 27 and the issue of a ministerial decision to this effect is now pending, he added.

The announcement comes as Greece eagerly awaits finalisation of the second review of its bailout programme whilst still facing uncertainty over the issue of its debt to which the IMF only added fuel to the fire by also suggesting it is unsustainable.

Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Tuesday he was surprised by the IMF report and called it "unnecessarily pessimistic."

Dijsselbloem said that Greece's creditors, which include the IMF as well as Eurozone members, would still be prepared to ease terms of Greece's debt further, if the country continues to cooperate on reforms. At the same time, he ruled out any forgiveness of principal debt.