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The two-day unprecedented collapse of the Athens Stock Exchange has fallen like a boomerang on the Greek government after the repeated statements by both Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Minister of Finance Gikas Hardouvelis over the past weeks that Greece does not need the financial assistance and supervision of the International Monetary Fund. The investors have dampened Greece's hopes to immediately exit the memorandum of financial stability regardless of how hard the government circles are trying to blame the market collapse on the opposition SYRIZA party and its plans for immediate early elections. Stock market analysts are adamant that the "explosive" combination of statements for early elections and exiting the memorandum are to blame for the mass sales of shares.
     On Tuesday, the stock index began to collapse and the spread index of 10-year Greek bonds abruptly went up. Referring to a source from the European Commission, Reuters reports that Athens has changed its decision to exit the memorandum of financial stability, seeking a credit line to replace the capital from the International Monetary Fund. It seems that the Greek government has evaluated the risk of the 100 percent financing from the international markets, following the massive sell-off of Greek government bonds on Tuesday and Wednesday.
     According to Reuters, the European Commission is resisting Greece’s intention to reject the International Monetary Fund assistance. "There is recognition on the Greek side that a total cut-off from the euro zone and the IMF programmes is not in their best interest," said the source of the agency in Brussels. He defined the sharp rise in the interest rates on 10-year bonds as a "reality check" and assured that the discussion on the Eurogroup level had helped change Greece’s decision. So far, the government of Samaras has not responded to the publication of Reuters and exiting the memorandum remains its official policy.
     Analysts unambiguously interpret the last two days on the Athens Stock Exchange as a clear sign that Greece is not yet able to stand on its own two feet alone. They emphasize that, with such values ​​of the interest rates on government securities, markets are in practice closed to Athens. Some pessimistic observers even speak of a second crisis in the euro zone.
     Meanwhile, the union of the companies listed on the Athens Stock Exchange addressed Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras calling them to stop the interpersonal attacks that are literally ruining the economy. "The markets actually consist of the money of pension funds and insurance companies, individuals, investors and retirees, all of whom try to achieve the best possible profit at the lowest possible risk. They do not extort anyone, nor do they allow someone to extort them. If they see better opportunities, they invest and if they see political and economic instability, they sell. Ignorance of how markets operate can have a catastrophic effect on Greece, as happened a few years ago," recalls the address.