Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.
Display:
That would be true only if Greece could pay back the money without further loans from EU countries.
In that case Germany (and other EU countries) would pocket the interest rate difference.
(Roughly 5% for the Greece loan versus - say - 3% interest rate for "our" loan.)
by Detlef (Detlef1961_at_yahoo_dot_de) on Tue Apr 13th, 2010 at 11:48:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]
As explained here, Germany can make 4% by borrowing on the markets the amount it would lend to Greece.
For 3 years' maturity the yield for German bonds is 1.34%, making the IMF spread 1.5% and the EU spread 4%
In addition,
Reuters: The yield on short-dated Greek government bonds fell by over a full point on Monday, after after euro zone finance ministers on Sunday approved a 30 billion euro aid mechanism for Greece.
The move took the 2-year bond yield to around 5.9 percent, below the 10-year bond yield, according to traders. That normalised the country's yield curve after it inverted last week on fears over Greece's ability to fund its debt.
this means that the yield for 2-year Greek bonds was 6.9%, above the 10-year bond yield (the curve was inverted due to fears over the short-term default prospects). A 5.33% cap on the interest rate up to 3 years helps bring the short-term rates lower though they still remain above the interest rate of the IMF/EU loans.
It also increases the likelihood that Greece will be able to pay the interest on its debt, though it will still need to roll over the €30bn loan after it expires.

The brainless should not be in banking -- Willem Buiter
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Apr 13th, 2010 at 12:06:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Display:

Occasional Series