Greece Starts €50 Billion Privatisation Drive

It’s time to dust off the old cheque book and keep an eye on what’s happening in Greece. You may just find something you want to purchase as Greek officials begin appointing advisers for the country’s ambitious privatisation drive, and what is one of the most ambitious asset-selling campaigns in modern history.
Prime Minister George Papandreou has even cancelled his summer holiday in order to speed up the process that his father, Andreas, Greece’s socialist premier in the 1980’s, did much to help create.
The Greek finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, explains the immediate goals:

Our target is clear, and it is to generate €1.7 billion from privatisations by the end of September and €5 billion by the end of the year.

The selling of prime assets comes on the back of a second aid package Greece received which is being used to support an economy now dependent on international handouts to pay things like public wages and pensions. [Source: Guardian]