<p>there are a few reasons:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Directly selling bonds isn't a common method to get money from your people. Raising taxes works more effectively. A promise of future spending would be roughly equivalent to selling bonds.</p></li>
<li><p>why not sell bonds to everybody? not just the Greeks? To a large extent, this has already been done. You don't get to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_debt" rel="nofollow">158% Dept to GDP</a> without a lot of borrowing. Borrowing to pay interest is common. It isn't a long term solution.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>The Greeks have been negotiating the terms of the bailout for many months now. Liquidating assets would have been considered and I expect will happen as part of these new measures.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-14T02:22:02.460Z
2015-07-14T02:22:02.460Z
Jamzy
<p>Since the Greek vehemently opposed the conditions imposed by the EU for the 3rd bailout, I don't understand why the Greek government did not raise the money needed to repay the previous loans by selling treasury bond or privatizing public assets before the full blown of this whole crisis.</p>

<government-debt>
Why did Greece not solve its debt problem by selling treasury bond to its own people?
TelKitty
# Why did Greece not solve its debt problem by selling treasury bond to its own people?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-07-14)

Since the Greek vehemently opposed the conditions imposed by the EU for the 3rd bailout, I don't understand why the Greek government did not raise the money needed to repay the previous loans by selling treasury bond or privatizing public assets before the full blown of this whole crisis.

**Tags:** government-debt

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-07-14. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

there are a few reasons:

* Directly selling bonds isn't a common method to get money from your people. Raising taxes works more effectively. A promise of future spending would be roughly equivalent to selling bonds.
* why not sell bonds to everybody? not just the Greeks? To a large extent, this has already been done. You don't get to [158% Dept to GDP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_debt) without a lot of borrowing. Borrowing to pay interest is common. It isn't a long term solution.

The Greeks have been negotiating the terms of the bailout for many months now. Liquidating assets would have been considered and I expect will happen as part of these new measures.


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