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发帖数: 1904 | 1 BRUSSELS—Officials on Wednesday assembled the pieces of a complex debt and
bailout deal for Greece, but it failed to reach broad Greek political
support, a key piece of the puzzle sought by the country's international
creditors to have in place to finalize the accord.
Negotiators made a breakthrough late Tuesday: The European Central Bank, one
of Greece's largest creditors, agreed to include its bonds in the debt
restructuring, people briefed on the issue said.
That should help other parts of the deal fall into place: a restructuring of
Greece's private-sector debt and a new 30 billion ($170 billion) loan
package from the euro-zone governments and the International Monetary Fund.
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos on Wednesday met with other parties in
his coalition and opposition leader Antonis Samaras to rally their support
for a new deal. Mr. Samaras will have to sign on to the program before
either euro-zone governments or the ECB agree to step in and prevent a
potentially catastrophic Greek debt default.
Supporting the program will be a bitter pill for Greek politicians to
swallow, particularly with national elections likely in the coming months.
After nearly two years of austerity policies, the deal will cut spending by
more than billion, further slash retiree pension benefits and reduce the
minimum wage by around 20%.
Euro-zone finance ministers are scheduled to meet Thursday evening in
Brussels to discuss the program.
The euro zone and the International Monetary Fund, frustrated by what they
say is the intransigence of Greek politicians against economic overhauls,
have insisted that both the Greek governing coalition and the main
opposition support the program.
Broad political support, they hope, will prevent the Greek program from
running further off course, after years of Greece repeatedly missing its
deficit-reduction targets.
But economists worry that the Greek economy is reaching the limits of
austerity, beyond which deficit cuts harm the economy more than they bolster
the government's finances.
European Union and IMF officials have increasingly taken this criticism to
heart, easing rules on spending EU funds in Greece and pushing an aggressive
debt restructuring rather than insisting on Greece repaying its debts in
full.
The restructuring will see Greece's private-sector bondholders receive new
bonds with half the face value of the old ones and maturities of as long as
30 years. The average coupon on the new bonds is likely to be less than 4%—
and well below 4% through 2020.
The goal is to keep Greece's debt under 120% of gross domestic product by
2020.
The private-sector restructuring, which will reduce Greece's debt by around
00 billion, will get the government only part of the way there.
That is why the ECB's participation is needed. The central bank bought its
Greek bonds at a steep discount over the past two years.
The agreement, should it be supported by Greek political parties, will see
the bank forgo at least some profits it would earn if these bonds were
repaid at 100 cents on the euro, people familiar with the decision said.
Instead, the ECB will exchange its Greek bonds for other bonds, issued by
the euro zone's temporary bailout fund, valued at the purchase price of its
Greek holdings, plus potentially some profit on top, these people said.
The amount of profit, if any, the ECB would earn is still under discussion,
they said. |
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