Reuters
January 24, 2012
From the outside, it can be hard to know just who has the upper hand in the negotiations between Greece, the international community and holders of the Mediterranean country's bonds.
One day it appears Greece is close to reaching a voluntary restructuring of its sovereign debt. And the next, talks aimed at getting Greece's creditors to accept steep losses on those bonds are at a standstill.
The talks have taken on the tenor of a labor negotiation, with leaks to the news media aimed at strengthening one side's bargaining position. But sovereign debt restructuring experts say none of this is surprising.
Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff told Reuters this kind of wrangling and squabbling is not uncommon in negotiations aimed at trying to craft a so-called orderly default on a sovereign debt.
He said it is important to strike the right deal in the Greek talks because similar negotiations may be necessary down the road to deal with Italy and Spain's sovereign debt.
The following are some questions and answers, based on interviews with people familiar with the talks, which are designed to help make sense of the conflicting headlines:
More
No comments:
Post a Comment