What now for the Euro? The New Democracy Party (pro Austerity) is in pole position to lead the country forward
It is late on Sunday night here in the UK, there would have been many of you looking on at events in Greece this evening wondering what to make of what has happened in Athens and what it all means for your currency exchange and the Euro going forward from here.
With more than half of Sunday’s votes counted, the centre-right New Democracy Party had 30.1 per cent of the vote in Greece’s second general election in six weeks. That put it about 3.5 per cent ahead of Syriza, a left-wing party that intended to pull out of Greece’s agreements with the EU regarding the country’s debts and drastic spending cuts.
“Greeks have voted to remain in the Euro-zone,” New Democracy leader Antonis Samaris said late Sunday in a televised address. “There will be no doubt about the position of Greece in Europe. There will be no further adventures. This is an important moment for Greece and the rest of Europe. Greece will honour its obligations.”
So if things go to plan Greece will remain in the Euro-zone after Sunday’s parliamentary elections appeared to give a pro-euro, pro-bailout party enough seats in parliament to create a coalition to deal with the southern European nation’s crippling debts.
The result should provide a measure of relief to the European Union and help calm volatile international markets, although the continent’s debt crisis is likely to continue and possibly worsen in the coming months.
I feel going forward that we will see a very brief spike for the Euro over the next day or so. However if you are hoping for the Euro to gain 5-6% on the back of these elections I think you may be disappointed.
The EU and the International Monetary Fund want Greece to carry out the terms of a stiff austerity program that it agreed to in return for billions of Euros in emergency financial assistance. While stating that it would honour this commitment, New Democracy also has indicated its wants the process slowed down. German Chancellor Angela Merkel though indicated she was prepared to consider giving Greece more time to gets its house in order, although she has refused to discuss watering down the agreement.
There are still many questions to be answered and this will leave much uncertainty for global financial markets. The uncertainty is what should make you very cautious over the coming weeks if you have a Euro exchange to make. If you are buying or selling the Euro and if you are at trading levels that you feel are acceptable I would recommend forward buying or trading on spot to make sure you do not get caught out by volatile exchange rate fluctuations after all it is still very hard to call what lays around the corner for the EURO.
If you have a currency exchange to buy or sell any of the major currencies events in Europe will have an effect on your currency conversion. If you would like to speak with me about your own requirement I will be happy to discuss what the implications of Europe can have on your exchange. We offer a very bespoke and personal service while achieving significantly better rates than that of your high street bank. Please do email me at bma@currencies.co.uk and I will contact you to discuss the options that are available to you.
Ben Amrany
