Wall Street Journal
April 14, 2011
More than a year after Greece opened the euro-zone debt crisis, the situation remains far from resolved.
The crisis has ebbed and flowed through various summits, rescues, programs and bailouts. But for all that, it’s getting pretty hairy once again.
Three immediate issues are at hand:
* Portugal needs to rollover about 4.5 billion euros of debt tomorrow. It’s still not entirely clear how they are planning to do that. They have even more debt due in June. A caretaker government is negotiating an 80 billion euro rescue ahead of elections June 5.
* It is becoming increasingly clear that Greece will need to restructure its debt, probably sooner than later. The country faces a June audit by its rescuers and Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, speaking to Die Welt, hinted (but never said directly) that Greece might not pass the audit and a restructuring would be coming.
* Spain, despite the protestations of Spanish and Eurocrat officials, is creeping back into the picture. Its economy is still struggling, its housing market is still a mess and its banks have no small amount of exposure to Portugal. Portugal, Ireland and Greece are minnows, Spain is a real fish.
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