Dutch whistleblower: Greek debt hushed up

RNW, 6 November 2011

A Dutch economist at the International Monetary Fund warned of Greece’s financial woes as early as May 2009.

Bob Traa’s analysis was not included in an official IMF report following Greek pressure, according to the New York Times.

Greece, Mr Traa concluded in his study, would soon no longer be able to serve its sovereign debt, with dire consequences for the rest of Europe. His warnings, the New York Times notes, were not heeded.

In October 2009, just five months after Mr Traa wrote his report, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou revealed that his country’s budget deficit wasn’t six percent of GDP, as reported until then, but more than 12 percent.

After his first report, Mr Traa reached even more damning conclusions in a second analysis, arguing that Greece, had it been a company, was in fact bankrupt.

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