Greece to roman road

There was silence in the conference room, as everyone was thinking about strategies to raise funds.

After hearing the feedback from Coredis and others, Constantine thought of a new way to sell national debt.

In order to determine whether the method was feasible, Constantine once again confirmed to the three bank leaders: "The lowest face value of the national debt you issue is one thousand drachmas. Why is the face value so large instead of printing some with smaller face value?" What about the national debt? For example, one hundred drachmas, or even smaller.”

Constantine did have doubts. He must know that the annual interest rate on the government bonds issued by Greece is as high as 5%, which is much higher than the savings interest rate given by the bank.

Under normal circumstances, many Greeks should be tempted by such high-priced investment and financial products.

Therefore, Constantine believes that there should be a problem with the bank's treasury bond issuance strategy.

The first point is the national bond with a minimum denomination of one thousand.

At this time, most Greeks' monthly income was only around two to three hundred drachmas.

Purchasing a treasury bond with a face value of 1,000 drachmas means that many people need to spend more than half a year's income to purchase a treasury bond, which is indeed a bit difficult.

Ordinary people would not keep such a large amount of cash, not to mention that the income still needs to meet daily expenses.

Hearing this, Coredis explained: "Your Royal Highness, most people have no concept of financial management. Our bank staff do have ideas in this regard. Just like you said, print the denomination of the national debt in a smaller number. And then market it to ordinary people.”

He spread his hands helplessly and said with a wry smile: "But the people don't trust such bonds at all. When they hear that the national bonds may default, or they are in urgent need of money, they can sell the bonds they hold at the Athens Stock Exchange at any time and exchange them for cash. People shook their heads and regarded our staff as liars."

"Probably in their eyes, national bonds are treated like stocks."

"Under such circumstances, we can only ask wealthy people who are relatively knowledgeable about financial products. After all, they have basic investment concepts, and at least they will not mistake the treasury bonds we issue for stocks."

Since the Athens Exchange in Greece started operating, stocks, something that is relatively unfamiliar to most Greeks, have gained a basic understanding of it through newspapers or hearsay.

The vast majority of Greeks still have relatively primitive and simple concepts and do not understand some ways of making wealth through the stock market.

By buying stocks at low prices on the exchange and then selling them at high prices, some people have made wealth that many people will never get in their lifetime. This is incomprehensible to many people.

In the simple concept of most Greeks, these people did not create any material wealth at all. It is incredible that they can make money by buying and selling a piece of paper (stock).

The unfathomable inside story in stock trading. At this time, there were many management loopholes in the stock exchange, insider trading was rampant, and many investors who did not know what was going on suffered heavy losses. Such news was seen in newspapers from time to time, which deepened the public understanding. Most Greeks have an aversion to stocks.

In the eyes of many Greeks, the stock exchange is a place full of scammers, gangsters and thieves (which may be true), and is not a place where serious people should go.

It is not difficult to understand that when bank staff explain the advantages of government bonds, they mention that buyers of government bonds that are in urgent need of cash can go to the Athens Stock Exchange to sell them. People regard these bonds as stocks, and these banks that promote government bonds The staff naturally became scammers who lured people to buy stocks.

In the view of bank professionals, treasury bonds can be sold at any time on the exchange, which is an advantage of treasury bonds, instead of only the government paying principal and interest after maturity, such a single redemption method.

After understanding these problems, Constantine became more confident in the new method, so he reminded everyone: "When I was reading the history books of the American Civil War, I remembered that the books recorded that in order to cope with the expenditure, the governments of the north and the south The vast wars were fought in different ways."

“The southern government used a massive printing of money to raise funds, while the northern government used the method of issuing national debt.”

"And the northern government also adopted a special method in order to achieve better results in selling national debt," Constantine reminded several people.

Constantine's few words made the eyes of several people in the room brighten.

"Yes, is this really someone you can imitate?" Prime Minister Venizelos said in surprise.

In order to make money during this period, I was unhappy all day long, but now I finally have a breakthrough.

The three Coredis looked at each other and nodded. It is indeed possible to succeed using the American method.

"Mr. Prime Minister, this method requires government support. Relying solely on the employees of our bank cannot achieve the method mentioned by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince," Coredis said to Venizelos.

"Not only the city government, but also the major newspapers in Greece should be contacted to ask them to cooperate in public opinion," Constantine said.

Larris and three managers hurried out of the conference room to implement the new Treasury bond sales plan.

The conference room fell silent again.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, if this time's national debt sales can really meet expectations, then the funds for the war with the Bulgarians will be barely available. This is assuming that the scope of the war is only limited to Greece and Bulgaria. The current Greece's finances are increasingly dependent on borrowing," Venizelos said worriedly.

"In any case, Greece will no longer be able to withstand a war in a short period of time. The government's tax revenue has seriously overspent, the fiscal deficit has expanded, and the entire country of Greece needs a long period of repair."

Constantine nodded and agreed: "What you said makes sense, Mr. Prime Minister, but there is no need to be so worried. Greece's finances are tight. How can Bulgaria fare better? Maybe Ferdinand is having a headache now. The problem is, Bulgaria was the main force in the last war. Even if Bulgaria now has assistance from Austria-Hungary, what will happen?"

In the Balkan War of 1912, Bulgaria mobilized a huge army of 400,000 people. During the war, the Bulgarian army faced off against the main force of the Ottoman Empire in Thrace.

The armies of Greece and Serbia were only responsible for flank battlefields, and the number of mobilized soldiers was only half that of Bulgaria. The battle in Macedonia was far less bloody and cruel than the battle in Thrace.

Therefore, Greece's financial situation was tight, and according to Constantine's estimation, Bulgaria's financial situation was not much better.