Greece rules out possibility of default
By David Oakley in London and Kerin Hope in Athens
Published: September 15 2010 21:55 | Last updated: September 15 2010 21:55
Greece’s finance minister has strongly rejected the idea that Athens will be forced to restructure its debts, saying that a default would break the eurozone.
On a
two-day visit to London, Paris and Frankfurt to convince investors that Athens has turned a corner in its year-long economic crisis, George Papaconstantinou told the Financial Times that a Greek default would spark selling in other so-called peripheral bond markets of Portugal and Ireland.
“Restructuring is not going to happen. There are much broader implications for the eurozone should Greece have to restructure its debt,” he said.
“People fail to see the costs to both Greece and the eurozone of a restructuring: the cost to its citizens, the cost to its access to markets. If Greece restructures, why on earth would people invest in other peripheral economies? It would be a fundamental break to the unity of the eurozone.”
The minister’s message to investors was reinforced by officials from the International Monetary Fund, European Union and the European Central Bank. Joining Mr Papaconstantinou in his briefings, a senior IMF official said “no one would benefit from a Greek default”.
The international officials will also travel to Paris and Frankfurt on Thursday in an attempt to build confidence among investors that Athens is on course with vital economic and labour reforms.
One investor at the London gathering said: “I cannot recall a time when the international community has lined up like this behind a country to try and help it win over investors. It was very convincing.”
However, others warned that
Greece still had a long way to go to convince markets that it would not be forced to restructure its bonds.
Marco Annunziata, chief economist at UniCredit, said: “Many investors are not convinced that Greece will be able to avoid default. Athens has to cut costs and many consider the only way to do that is to restructure loans.”
This would mean big losses, or haircuts, for bond holders, which include French and German banks and the ECB, which is estimated to be holding up to €40bn in Greek bonds as part of its government debt purchase programme.
Mr Papaconstantinou said: “We have a two-year window to get things done.”
“I can understand why investors are saying: what happens [when Greece’s €110bn loan bail-out runs out in 2013]? ... The answer is: primary surplus plus growth. The big problem for Greece is growth, but the reforms we have taken tackle that because the supply shock to the economy increases its growth potential.”
Greece’s chances of restoring credibility with investors depend on delivering budget deficit reductions in line with targets agreed under the EU-IMF bail-out this year and next.
It also has to provide reliable economic data after years of fudging the deficit figures, and using swaps and using off-balance-sheet accounting to reduce the size of the public debt.
To this end, Elstat, the statistics office, has become an independent agency now headed by a former senior IMF official. Auditors from the international “big four” firms are making checks at state hospitals to reduce wasteful spending. Local government accounts are also being audited for the first time.
(Financial Times)