MOSCOW, January 29 (Sputnik) — The UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader predicted via Twitter Thursday that Greece will exit the eurozone by the end of 2015 as the recently elected anti-austerity party comes to power.
I think we've reached a point that by the end of the year, Greece may have left the Euro. #bbcdp
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) 29 января 2015
Monday marked the election victory of the Syriza party in Greece, upsetting the incumbent New Democracy party and gaining close to a majority in the country's parliament.
After the victory by the radical left coalition, European leaders were quick to downplay the possibility of a write-off of Greece's external debt and popular fears over its economic future. German, British and European Commission leadership expressed confidence that Greece would adhere to the financial commitments made by the previous administration.
We're watching, before our eyes, effectively Greece becoming a third world country and it is tragic #BBCDP
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) 29 января 2015
In 2010, the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund extended a 110-billion-euro ($123 billion) bailout package to ease Athens' acute economic crisis. Two years later, the troika provided and additional $146 billion in debt relief, due December 2014, and the IMF extended a further $9 billion in January 2015 until the following March.