The boardgame "Here comes the Troika."

How the Troika stole Christmas

The "Men in Black," or Troika of lenders from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Union, who offer bailouts in exchange for austerity, have become a source of humour. It is the basis of a new card game and advertisement, but the laughter hides fears that the situation will deteriorate in 2013.

Published on 20 December 2012 at 14:18
The boardgame "Here comes the Troika."

In Lisbon, a new card game called "Here comes the Troika" is already on sale in several stores. The rules of the game are simple: players try to protect the millions they have won thanks to their influence peddling, they try to win elections and protect their positions before a malevolent card appears and ruins all of their plans. This nefarious card pictures three sinister-looking men in black, The Troika, come to seize their winnings.

In shopping malls, an advertisement announces a new credit plan allowing shoppers to pay for Christmas purchases in three payments. The slogan provides a hint of irony: If the Troika finds out..." In other words, it would be best if it did not know that, despite it all, we are wasting the little money we have left (or that it has left us).

In Portugal, recurring jokes and jests are used to stave off the economic and human stifling attributed to the Troika. The end of year festivities will be bleak. Civil servants will not get a Christmas bonus and, in January 2013, new measures and budget restrictions will be implemented.

Cost savings

This is the most controversial and restrictive budget bill the country has known in recent history. It includes a sharp hike in taxes, representing, on average, the equivalent of the loss of one month's salary. According to the Portuguese Confederation of Trade and Services, Portuguese trade will fall by 10 to 15 per cent in 2013 compared to 2012, which was already a disastrous year. Some merchants are very glum and say their sales have plummeted by 30 per cent. Taxi drivers who spend all day in the streets swear they have lost 40 per cent of their clients.

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Magazines and television programmes are filled with tips on where to buy cheaply, how to find second-hand shops and hints on how to save money. Shops selling on consignment are popping up everywhere, recycling just about everything from clothes in good condition to items that can be resold forever.

In 2012, the economy slowed by 3 per cent over the year, consumer spending was down by 2 per cent and unemployment reached a record 16 per cent. Trade unions estimate that, in the past few years, the active workforce lost 10 per cent of its purchasing power. "And things will get worse in 2013," warns Arménio Carlos, general-secretary of the CGTP trade union confederation.

Things will get worse

That is why the Portuguese wonder how this disaster scenario will end. The Finance Minister, Vitor Gaspar, says that the first improvements will come in the second half of 2013. The problem is he said things would improve a year ago, yet, in 2012 the recession deepened. For the moment, everything suggests that things will get worse, much worse.

A part from the tax hike, the abolished bonuses and the apparition of a slew of new taxes which apply to a large portion of the Portuguese population, the government has also announced that, in February, it will present the Troika with a framework that provides savings of €4bn. The saving will be made by reducing public services, particularly in health and education. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho warned, in a much talked about interview a few weeks ago, that he is seeking a way to make citizens pay - totally or in part - for their children's high school education.

Yet, all is not miserable. Pedro Passos Coelho, who usually announces bad news to the population on television, was questioned about macroeconomic issues during an official visit to Turkey on December 17 and he used the occasion to provide what today passes for good news: "For the first time in a long while, we are no longer on the edge of the cliff."

Portugal

A country for sale

Portugal is to end the year with a succession of privatisations, which will include TAP (Portuguese Airlines), the state broadcaster (RTP), and the airports company (ANA). The government in Lisbon is also expected to finalise the privatisation of Viana do Castelo shipyards, when it chooses between tenders from Brazilian group Rio Nave and the Russians of RSI Trading.

A single buyer, the Colombian-Brazilian tycoon Germán Efromovich, has offered €350m for TAP, which is burdened with a debt of €1.2bn. The Portuguese state, which will keep only 10 per cent of that amount, will announce its decision on the sale on December 20. The director of Jornal de Negócios Pedro Santos Guerreiro writes —

The state fell into a trap: just one interested buyer and no time to do it better. (...) All of the money Efromovich proposes will be spent ‘inside’ TAP. (...) The state, which is handing over the company, will receive little or nothing in return.

The race between four competing consortia eager to acquire Aeroportos de Portugal (ANA) is also equally controversial. “France’s Vinci have offered €3bn for ANA," reports Jornal de Negócios.

As for the national broadcaster, Expresso explains that the "Government has three models for RTP" — to have it run as a privately owned concession; privatisation of 49 per cent of the capital along with a total commitment from management to cooperate with a private operator; or restructuring. The government seems to prefer privatisation, points out the weekly, which adds that the matter will be settled before the end of the year. To date, the only potential buyer is the Angolan group Newshold, which owns the Portuguese weekly Sol and is a part owner of the media group Cofina.

In December 2011, the Portuguese government sold its majority stake (21.3 per cent) in the country's main electric company (EDP) to the Chinese Three Gorges public company, for €2.7bn.

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