Greece to roman road

"How did your three banks help the government purchase treasury bonds?" Constantine asked with a frown after hearing what Coredis said.

I was also shocked to hear that the three major banks had directly purchased 360 million drachmas of government bonds.

As the three largest commercial banks in Greece, Royal Bank of Greece, Alfa Bank, and National Bank of Greece have commercial outlets all over cities and towns in Greece. They have good reputations and are the first choice for Greeks to save.

It will not go bankrupt due to poor management or poor management like some small banks.

Now the three banks have invested a large amount of money in national debt. If a large-scale run by depositors occurs and the banks cannot return people's funds in time, the entire Greek financial order will collapse.

As the mother of all industries, banks have a close relationship with almost everyone in society. Once such a situation occurs, a chain reaction will occur in the entire society, and the society will lose order.

By then, Greece had not been defeated by the Bulgarian army, and the country was already in chaos.

In such a situation, it is impossible for the three major banks to continue to purchase treasury bonds issued by the government.

Seeing the frowning faces of Larris and Venizelos, it was obvious that they were racking their brains to raise money.

Judging from Coredis's tone, they had already discussed with the managers of the three major banks, but the three of them rejected the government's continued issuance of treasury bonds to them.

Now there are only two ways to increase revenue and reduce expenditure before the Venizelos government: either raise funds to alleviate the government's shortage of funds; or cut some projects to save expenditures.

Every day as long as the door of the Prime Minister's residence is opened, there is an endless stream of people coming to report their accounts.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Your Excellency the Prime Minister, I propose to end some non-urgent projects to save money, such as education expenditures, funds to encourage childbirth, and funds to support industrial development," Finance Minister Laris said.

"How is this possible? In terms of education funding, the proportion of government expenditures in the compulsory education stage is originally low, and the focus is on a few universities. Now that their teaching funding is stopped, you will not be afraid of students from the schools coming to the Prime Minister's official residence. Are you pointing your finger at us?" Venizelos said helplessly.

"As for the funds to encourage childbirth, this is the main measure to encourage childbirth in Greece. Once it is stopped, families who have given birth to multiple children will probably be in trouble. After all, with their income, you don't want to see them holding children. Are you accusing the government of going back on its word? It’s best for the government’s policy to continue for a long time.”

Laris walked up to the Coredis trio and said, "Otherwise, we authorize the three major banks to urgently print a sum of banknotes to meet the government's urgent needs."

“The three major banks now have the right to issue currency”

Aristina, the manager of Alfa Bank, immediately refused: "Mr. Minister of Finance, the three major banks do have the right to issue currency, but this is strictly restricted. We must have the corresponding precious metals as a deposit before we can print the corresponding banknotes."

"Moreover, what the government needs is not a small amount. Printing hundreds of millions of drachma banknotes will trigger severe inflation in Greece, and the current currency will depreciate sharply, which will cause turmoil in the country."

Directly printing banknotes is equivalent to plundering the wealth of every citizen in Greece indiscriminately.

The sudden influx of large amounts of banknotes into the market will drive up prices in Greece, and the entire Greek economy will be severely affected.

The rich who have assets in their hands will become richer, while the vast majority of ordinary people need to pay more to buy daily necessities.

Doing so will obviously spark social conflicts.

Constantine was also hesitant now. He knew in his heart that Greece's finances had indeed reached their limit. After all, they had just gone through a war and did not give Laris, the finance minister, any breathing space. He was about to prepare for another war.

What made the financial situation worse was that, considering the desolation of Macedonia, in order to speed up the development of Macedonia, Constantine also urged Venizelos to invest more funds there to support and accelerate the agricultural development of Greece.

Constantine also knew that his mentality was a little eager for success, but time waited for no one.

It was already 1913, and he did not want Greece, as a small, third-rate country with low power, to be reluctantly involved in the European war under the coercion of major powers.

Some people say that you can be neutral, just like Switzerland, neither side is offended.

Not strong enough, and always thinking about fighting.

This is a very naive idea. If you want to be neutral, can you be neutral?

Neutrality also requires strength as a basis.

Look at the miserable situation in Belgium. Belgium is crying out for neutrality, but is it effective?

Switzerland has been able to remain neutral in previous wars because it is a useless country, a typical country that eats nothing but meat, and is an indisputable territory for military strategists.

It's such a place in a ravine in the Alps. What can we do if we knock it down?

Looking at the performance of the Balkan countries in World War I in the original history, Serbia, as the initiator of World War I, was directly defeated by the German-Austrian coalition forces;

Romania was at both ends of the spectrum, vacillating, but was finally dealt with;

Bulgaria is with the wrong big brother, and it will be useless no matter how good it performs;

Greece was simply trembling with fear and did not dare to offend either side. In the end, it was forced to take over. It was over before it even started. It only joined the war at the end of 1917.

As mentioned before, Greece has an important geographical location and is an important transportation hub, guarding the two straits.

In a European war like World War I, the more important the geographical location, the less likely it was to escape.

Constantine knew in his heart that if Greece could not accumulate a certain amount of strength before the First World War, it would inevitably end up being an insignificant younger brother and serve as cannon fodder for others. The result would be a tragic ending no matter what.

Frustrated, Larisse slapped his palms on the table with a bang, and said, "I've had enough. This won't work, and that won't work either. So what should I do?"

"Can we ask foreign bankers for help? We can borrow from foreign countries," Venizelos said.

This suggestion was immediately rejected in everyone's mind.

International loans in this era come with a lot of conditions and high interest rates.

Even if the lending country is willing to pay such a price, do you think those funds will go to the lending country?

It is simply impossible that these loans would require the purchase of supplies directly in the creditor countries.

Moreover, the loan amount will not be repaid in full, and the bank that provides the guarantee will also take a commission. As income, it is good for the borrower to get 89% of the loan.

In other words, the money was just transferred from one account in the bank of the creditor country to another. The lending country never saw the cash from the beginning to the end, and then left with materials and a debt.

This is not a loan, it is almost like robbing money!

Constantine, who couldn't think of any good way to raise money for a while, asked the three Coredis: "How did you raise and issue national debt before?"

"Bank staff will personally visit wealthy people in Greece and sell them national debt," Kolledis replied.

“As a financial industry we are well aware of the wealthy people in Greece and this has helped our bond sales efforts”

"The funds raised are endorsed by the bank on behalf of the government, so they take 1% as compensation."

"The remaining national debt quota will be directly covered by our three major banks."

"You also know that there are only a very small number of rich people in Greece. Those who can afford to buy a government bond with a minimum denomination of 1,000 drachmas are only a minority in Greece. Ordinary people cannot afford it at all. The government has asked our bank to issue it on our behalf several times. "Speaking of this, Coredis felt a little embarrassed.

"Our bank staff frequently come to sell national debt door-to-door, which makes those people complain."

How can we not complain? There is so much national debt, and a few rich people are caught plundering it every day, and they are almost bald.

Constantine interjected: "Is everyone positive about buying government bonds?"

"The interest rate on national debt is as high as 5%, which is far higher than the interest rate on bank savings. Naturally, many rich people are willing to invest," Adestina replied.

"Moreover, the Greek army has won consecutive battles, and the people are full of confidence in the strength of the Greek army. The national debt issued by the government has good credit. Almost no one is worried that the defeat of the Greek army will lead to a debt default."

Constantine said in surprise: "So, in fact, many people want to buy national bonds. After all, there are not many financial products with such high returns."