Syriza Fears Overblown Says Citi Political Analyst

Fears among markets and European governments over a potential win for radical party Syriza in Greek elections later this month are rife, but there are disagreements over the degree of economic and political instability that the anti-austerity party could unleash.

Markets are jittery on the prospect of Greek elections on January 25, which anti-bailout party Syriza could win, if current opinion polls remain unchanged. The yield on Greece’s ten-year government bonds rose above 10 percent on Monday, although they are currently trading at 9.78 percent; the Athens benchmark stock index traded down 2.6 percent on Wednesday.

Tina Fordham, chief political analyst at Citi, told CNBC Wednesday that she thought concerns over Syriza were overdone.

“Syriza has been ahead in the polls for 18 months and they are likely to be the strongest party in the January 25 elections, but they may very well struggle to form the government,” she told CNBC on Wednesday.

“I think we should be clear that 2015 is not 2012 (when rumors abounded that Greece might leave the euro), Greece is far more stable now,” said Fordham.

via CNBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza