Brussels/BERLIN (Reuters) - Euro area Governments are considering a plan to prevent a Greek default that private investors would be called upon to maintain their exposure to debt and Athens would receive a new package of assistance from the EU and the IMFsaid sources in the euro area.
The sources told Reuters in the new strategy Thursday after the European Central Bank has raised the stakes in its bid to prevent a restructuring of the Greek debt by telling Governments that he would refuse to accept the bonds as collateral in the case of such an approach.
The threat made by a member of the Executive Council of ECB Juergen Stark at a Conference in Athens on Wednesday came after European Finance Ministers have suggested the possibility of a "soft restructuring" extensions of maturity of debt earlier this week.
A source with an overview of the discussions of European on the Greek debt said any "soft" or "hard" restructuring which could trigger a "credit" event - or to the payment of default insurance contracts - was now off the coast of the table.
Instead of an extension of maturity, which can decrease the value of bonds and trigger such an event, banks would be encouraged to maintain their holdings of Greek debt and buy new bonds to replace questions that they reach maturitysaid the source.
This would be done in combination with a new package of Greek reforms and austerity, although more money EU and IMF to ensure the financing of the Greece of needs through 2014.
"We hope to have an agreement by the end of June," the source told Reuters.
The source does not clear how the block could convince the owners of Greek bonds ride on their assets or say how many additional aid, the EU and the IMF might be willing to provide on the package of EUR 110 billiongiven to the Greece, the last year.
VIENNA INITIATIVE
EU economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn has returned to the Vienna Initiative as a model of debt rollover.
The initiative has been an agreement at the height of the crisis between the European Central Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and development, the regulators and banks with subsidiaries in Central Europe.
Under it, groups of parents Bank committed publicly to maintain their exhibitions and recapitalize their subsidiaries in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe within the packages of financial assistance from the European Union and the IMF.
Greek sovereign debt is expected to increase to almost 350 billion euros at the end of 2011, or 154% of its gross domestic product (GDP), one of the highest levels in the world.
Many economists say a debt restructuring is inevitable, but European Governments have promised not step of forcing losses on creditors before mid-2013.
ECB officials have warned for weeks that a debt restructuring would be disastrous for the euro area and stepped up their rhetoric this week after the President of the Eurogroup Jean-Claude Juncker has suggested that the block was opened in a voluntary of Greek debt deadlines extension.
"For the ECB, in accordance with our legal obligations, a restructuring of debt undermine collateral adequacy of the obligations of the Greek Government," said Stark the ECB.
"This means that a debt restructuring would prevent the continuation of the large segments of the supply of liquidity of the banking system of the Greece Central Bank".
Comments and a report in the Financial Times Deutschland that the President of the ECB, Jean-Claude Trichet had issued the same warning to euro-zone finance ministers at a meeting of the Eurogroup, heated Monday, weighed on the euro, who has slipped to $1.4235.
The cost of insuring Greek debt against default has also increased, and the differences between Greek bonds of 10 years and those of German marks safer oscillated about 13%, close to a record level.
Greek banks rely on the system of guarantees to finance themselves and refusing to accept the obligations of the Government that security would be paralyzed, with disastrous implications for other European banks exposed to the Greece.
HIGH FLEXIBILITY
Economists are skeptical that the Frankfurt-based Central Bank would respond to the threat, describing as a bargaining ploy to stop the progression towards some form of restructuring.
"I think that this is part of the negotiation process." Deep down the ECB probably knows anything to do, but they want to be as lightweight as possible, ", said Gilles Moec, Economist at Deutsche Bank."
Statutes of the ECB gives the Bank a high degree of flexibility in determining what it can and cannot accept banks seeking short term loans, indicating only that loans should be based on "appropriate safeguards".
The ECB continued to accept obligations of Greek and Irish Government as a guarantee in its liquidity operations, regardless of their credit rating and can probably decide to voluntarily accept swapped routes with long durations.
However, the source of the euro area said that the ECB had clearly indicated that in cases where a Greek debt restructuring triggered payments in default of insurance contracts swaps - credit default - it would accept the bonds as collateral.
Beyond the impact on the euro area, the ECB may also be concerned about the effect of restructuring on his own books.
He purchased an approximately 40-50 billion euros of sovereign debt Greek in his controversial bond purchase program and has indirect exposure via the tens of billions of euros in Greek paper, already accepted as collateral in its lending operations.
(Statement by George Georgiopoulos Athens, Sakari Suoninen and Marc Jones in Frankfurt, Annika Breidthardt in Berlin) (Written by Noah Barkin; editing by Mike Peacock)
没有评论:
发表评论