Key sees three benefits for Greece if it returns to the drachma
As Greeks vote 'no,' the prime minister says there is every possibility the country will be kicked out of the EU; sees little impact on New Zealand.
With polls closed in Greece, the early indication is that the "no" vote is in the lead by a large margin.
With no EU proposal on the table, Prime Minister John Key says it's not clear whether Greeks were voting on austerity or staying in Europe or what.
But he does see a likely consequence. "There’s every possibility Greece will be kicked out of the European Union," the PM said on Breakfast this morning.
"It’s very difficult to know, but the patience of the German taxpayers who were the ones paying the bills for the Greeks is wearing thin," he said.
"If they pull out, they'll get the drachma back. They'll end up printing cash," the PM said, adding it will be worth a fraction of the euro.
"It will make tourism very attractive, it will make some of their exports very attractive, it will make foreign investment into Greece very attractive funnily enough but it doesn’t fix their other issues of how they fund the country," he said.
Paying tax needed to be treated as a legal liability, not an optional hobby, the PM said.
A domino effect was unlikely. "Italy, Spain and France are much more stable than they were three years ago," he said.
He agreed with Finance Minister Bill English's comments over the weekend that he had little concern about the Greek crisis affecting New Zealand because a Greek default and no vote had been widely anticipated.
Although the IMF would still expect to be paid the money owed to it by Greece, others have long ago impaired the amount, Mr Key said. "There won’t be a banker around the world who hasn’t written down their loan to zero."
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Key sees three benefits for Greece if it returns to the drachma
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