Meltdown fears for euro as G20 makes plans for Athens to default on debt

[marmar]

from the Independent UK:



Meltdown fears for euro as G20 makes plans for Athens to default on debt
Finance Minister signals Greece may opt for 50 per cent writedown on bonds as top economist warns Spain and Italy could be forced out of single currency

By Ben Chu in Washington and Margareta Pagano in London
Sunday, 25 September 2011


The world's leading economic powers are moving towards an acceptance that Greece will default on up to half of its €350bn sovereign debts, according to reports from meetings in Washington yesterday. They are believed to be working on concrete plans to deal with these huge losses and their repercussions.

This news – almost regardless of any words of qualification that emerge this weekend – will have a resounding effect on the febrile markets when they open on Monday.

Unconfirmed reports circulated yesterday that G20 leaders have recognised that the Athens government cannot cope with the scale of its debt burden and that there will eventually need to be a considerable reduction in the face value of Greek debt. The Finance Minister, Evangelos Venizelos, was quoted by two Greek newspapers as suggesting that a 50 per cent writedown for the holders of Greek bonds would be the "best option".

The priority for national policymakers now, apparently, is to contain the impact by recapitalising banks and boosting the powers of the European bailout fund by the time of the next G20 meeting in November. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/meltdown-fears-for-euro-as-g20-makes-plans-for-athens-to-default-on-debt-2360641.html

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[Bigmack]

2. Just tell me how bad we're gonna get screwed... nt

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Then . . . what happens to them and what happens to us?

[Turbineguy]

4. It will not be the default that is the problem.

The real problem is the credit default swaps. Nobody seems to know just how much that will be but they will give speculators the combination to the safe for them to plunder.