Greece: Selling Assets Among the Ruins

Public Power Corp, or PPC, is itself a prime candidate for sale to help the Greek government raise the money it needs to support its budget and satisfy the demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission, and the European Central Bank (ECB) to shrink the government. Since forming a government after the Jun 17 election, Antonis Samaras and his ministers have been in talks with the EU, ECB, and IMF to keep aid flowing during the fifth year of Greece's recession. They are seeking at least E11.5 billion ($14.2 billion) of further budget cuts for 2013 and 2014. Samaras has vowed to make the sale of state-owned assets a priority and last month appointed former PPC CEO Takis Athanasopoulos as chairman of the organization that manages the privatization program.