Greek debt restructuring to involve 40 to 50% haircuts

The German weekly Die Zeit quotes EU sources as estimating the size of a potential haircut for Greece of 40 to 50% to ensure debt sustainability. The paper reports that various options were under consideration now, including a simple maturity transformation. Moritz Kraemer of S&P is quoted in the article as suggesting a size of the necessary haircut of 50-70%, adding that a simple rescheduling would not provide sufficient debt relief. He said a restructuring is only worth doing if the debt is reduced to a sustainable level - considering the price a country has to pay for a restructuring of debt is very high in terms of lost market access.

 

Talking to Die Welt Wolfgang Schäuble said that he expected a detailed debt sustainability study for Greece to be prepared by the Commission and the ECB. "We will have to do something should this report conclude that the debt sustainability is in doubt", the finance minister said referring to "further measures" that would have to be undertaken.  However Schäuble also stressed that up until 2013 private creditors could only be subjected to voluntary debt restructuring. After 2013 private creditors would have to expect to automatically part of restructuring.

And what is it about 2013?

Economics is politics by other means