NBG Must Like a Greek Budget Surplus

Greece has doubled its budget surplus estimates for 2013. That is right, a surplus. Greece is even predicting a return to nominal growth again in 2014, along with higher spending. Greece’s ASE Composite index closed up 0.5%, and one likely would have guessed it would have been even better.

The Greek government submitted its 2014 budget, and the surplus needs to be identified as a surplus before its debt payments. In short, it is sort of like a pro forma report. Still, when was the last time we have seen any talk of a budget surplus? This came to about 812 million euro, which was almost $1.1 billion.

With the National Bank of Greece being the most widely known Greek bank to investors, it is of little surprise that its shares are surging. This is even without a formal compromise, and after the Troika has said good progress was made but more work was needed.

NBG ADRs were up 3.8% at $5.72, and its adjusted 52-week trading range is $2.85 to $24.70. The move is being only lightly mimicked by other banks stock ADRs from the lands known as the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain). More details about Greece’s surplus and budget can be found in the NASDAQ report.