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Germans plan for Greek debt shake-upBy Gerrit Wiesmann in Berlin
Published: April 15 2011 22:58 | Last updated: April 15 2011 22:58
Germany is drawing up plans to restructure Greece’s sovereign debt in the event that Athens’ economic reforms fail to heave the country out of its budget crisis.
Its intentions fly in the face of the European Central Bank, which fears that asset write-downs could trigger a financial crisis at a time when the banking system is still bruised from the last one.
But Berlin reckons it and eurozone partners could avoid such desperate straits if they persuade Athens to offer bondholders a voluntary restructuring with tools used before by the International Monetary Fund.
One idea is to encourage bondholders to swap risky Greek sovereign bonds at about market prices for safer paper guaranteed by the eurozone – akin to “Brady Bonds” issued to South American countries in the 80s.
Alternatively, a eurozone trust – possibly the European financial stability facility – could buy bonds, and extend maturities or retire debt, a system used to help poor states in the IMF’s HICP programme. People briefed about Berlin’s thinking said other options were considered but chancellery and finance ministry officials had spent time analysing these “market friendly” options.
“The government has long since started preparing for a Greek restructuring,” one of them told the Financial Times. “But it’s not pushing Greece into this. It knows that none of these plans will work if the Greeks don’t want them.” The finance ministry said it could not comment.
George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, announced new spending cuts and asset sales on Friday to get the country’s finances on track. He said a restructuring would not solve Greece’s problems.
Although it would profit from a debt cut, Athens, like the ECB, is wary of the damage even a voluntary scheme might do to domestic banks, which own a lot of its bonds, and to the government’s future access to markets.
But Germany has started making other noises. Werner Hoyer, deputy foreign minister, told Bloomberg News on Friday that a voluntary debt restructuring would “not be a disaster” and that Berlin was ready to back such a plan.
Wolfgang Schäuble, the finance minister, talked this week of the need for “further measures” for Greece. Mr Schäuble said on Friday that it was “misguided” to think he necessarily meant a restructuring.
Mr Hoyer’s comments drove investor fears of writedowns and their consequences. The interest spread between 10-year German sovereign bonds and equivalent Greek government bonds widened to a record 1,000 basis points.
The ministers’ statements suggested that a cross-party consensus was emerging in Angela Merkel’s coalition government of Christian Democrats, which includes Mr Schäuble, and Free Democrats, which counts Mr Hoyer as a member.
People briefed on the issue said it could be tricky to obtain parliamentary approval for any Greek restructuring, which could land Berlin with new financial burdens.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011.
Grazie.
E' un passo in avanti, qui però non si tratta di scambiare i bond al prezzo di mercato ma al nominale con titoli tripla AAA.
Altrimenti nessuno aderirà volontariamente ...
Sono un visionario?
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