The Greek stock exchange plunged over 5.0 percent on Monday following Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s defiant speech to parliament in which he swore to stand by his anti-austerity electoral promises.
The benchmark index plummeted 5.38 percent shortly after opening as investors feared that Greece’s refusal to apply for a bailout extension would set it on a path that could end with its exiting the eurozone.
Tsipras said the country intended to honour its debts but insisted he would be “unshakeable” in carrying out the new Greek government’s anti-austerity agenda and called for temporary EU funding to help stave off a default.
So far Greece’s demands for more time to renegotiate the country’s massive 240-billion-euro ($275 billion) EU-IMF rescue deal have hit a wall, with European paymaster Germany vehemently opposed.
On Friday, the two-week-old government appealed for temporary funding from its EU partners to tide it over while continuing the negotiations.
But with no agreement appearing close at hand, credit ratings agencies have warned Greece is heading closer to defaulting on its loans, a move that could see it forced to leave the common currency.