...Institutions: Sovereign Debt Crisis By Aims of the research To examine and analyse the impact of Europe Sovereign Debt Crisis on financial markets and institutions in the UK. To determine the areas affected by the crisis and at what level Reasons of choosing the topic To explore the effects of the Sovereign Debt Crises on the Eurozone if one of the member states defaulted and the magnitude of the spill over effect on other nations in EU. This area of study is of great interest not only for the wider public, but for policy makers alike. It can be argued that in comparison to other monetary unions, such as the U.S, the Eurozone countries are far from being economically integrated, let alone politically integrated. Objectives of the research To have insight into Europe Sovereign Debt Crisis and to examine its consequences on the UK economy. To explore the impact of Europe Sovereign Debt Crisis on the financial management, auditing and reporting practices of UK based financial markets and institutions. To compare pre and post performance of UK financial markets and institutions as a result of Europe Sovereign Debt Crisis. Summary of the articles Arghyrou and Tsoukalas (2010) Luff and Peacegood (2012) Duncan (2011) Veron (2012) Arroyo (2011) Arghyrou and Tsoukalas (2010) Outlined the main cause and trigger of the Europe Sovereign Debt Crisis. Defined the Europe Sovereign Debt Crisis...
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...Date: The European sovereign debt crisis Introduction At the beginning of 2010, its emerged that the sovereign debt crisis would drastically spread through the entire European Union since Portugal, Greece, Spain, Italy and Ireland, which are jointly known as the PIIGS were in facing the significant increase in their deficit as well as public debt. The events about the crisis were closely tied to Greece since there were doubts about its ability to offset the huge sovereign debt it owed as well as government deficits. This crisis of confidence in Greece resulted in the significant downgrade of the Greek bonds into a junk status as well as the Greek bond yield spreads notably rose (Brutti and Sauré, 2016). The financial unrest gradually spread to the entire European Union zone and the European stocks tumbled, and the euro currency reached 2-year lows. Nonetheless, Greece was not the only stressed economy in The Euro Zone, in fact, it turned out to be a tip of the iceberg since other nations in the European Union were trailing on the Same road. Spain, Italy, Portugal and Ireland had accumulated huge budget deficits as well as increased public debt to the Gross Domestic product ratios. Portugal had an economic boom that was being sustained by the significantly lower borrowing rates. Nevertheless, it was hit by expeditious wage inflation which adversely affected the local companies’ competition with other foreign firms (CAI and LI, 2012). The sovereign debt crisis in European region...
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...Topic: PIIGS (European debt crisis) 吳宇綸D0131292 劉昱顯D0131156 王謙 周雋彥D0125599 Contents 1. Introduction 2. Overview of the European sovereign debt problem 3. Relief measures of the European sovereign debt crisis 4. European debt crisis 5. Conclusion 6. References I. Introduction The PIIGS is a group that composed of five countries that have some commonality in location and economic environments. In this case, PIIGS includes Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain. The countries which be mentioned are all part of European Union members and have been noted for having weak economics and bad situation of financial problems. In 2008, economic crisis came to all over the world, during the worldwide economic crisis, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain began to come out the grave and serious concern in the European Union refer to the enormous amount of sovereign debt that they were carrying. The problem with the PIIGS is that speculators dropped, compounding their debt issues and the situation might be much more worse. Many European Union members were also unwilling to rescue these struggling nations although when it became very clear that assistance would be needed. The sovereign debt crisis sparked a number of conversations about reforming financial policy in the European Union to prevent similar problems in the future. The members of PIIGS felt displeasure at the negative allusions and some have...
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...1. Introduction To understand into the trend of European currency change nowadays, the origins of the Euro (€) had been studied. From the background of Euro, initial idea for the creation of Euro can be trace back to 1979 when European Union (EU) set up European monetary system (EMS). Due to the successful of EMS, the European Union decided to form the Economy and Monetary Union (EMU) to create Euro in December 1991.The main advantages and disadvantages of a single currency for the countries and the zone had been analysis with the macroeconomics knowledge that has learnt from this course. The advantages mainly help to eliminate the floating exchange rate, transaction cost and price transparency, whereas the disadvantages include loss of sovereignty, cost of Euro and budget position. Thus, the significant influences of Euro dollar from birth to now, it can be known that Euro currency is defined under flexible exchange rate system. With flexible exchange rate, the currency can be effort between the capital movements, tax and subsidize international trade and therefore the currency from overseas will influenced the demand. 2. Analysis 1. History of Euro In January of 1999, single currency, Euro has been introduced by members of European Union. It has been approved by Maastricht Treaty and used by its members currently who called as Eurozone. Those members consists of 16 members which are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg...
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...The European Debt Crisis In 2009, Greece came forward and announced that their financial management of their economy had gone awry. Greece's revealed their budget to be 12.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), in addition, its debt-to-GDP ratio at 120% was twice the limit allowed in the Maastricht treaty. This triggered what is now known as the European Debt Crisis, and led to similar announcements by Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Spain and most recently Cyprus. In the next pages we will attempt to explain the events leading up to the crisis and potential next steps for the European community. On February 7th, 1992 the 13 member nations of the European Council came together to sign the Maastricht Treaty. The treaty was designed to create financial stability throughout the Euro Zone by laying out fundamental fiscal policies for each country to follow. The treaty primarily encompasses four points: 1. Inflation rates: No more than 1.5 percentage points higher than the average of the three best performing (lowest inflation) member states of the European Union (EU). 2. Government finance: Annual government deficit: The ratio of the annual government deficit to gross domestic product (GDP) must not exceed 3% at the end of the preceding fiscal year. Government debt: The ratio of gross government debt to GDP must not exceed 60% at the end of the preceding fiscal year. 3. Exchange rate: Applicant countries should have joined the exchange-rate mechanism (ERM II) under the...
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...Greek Sovereign Debt Crisis CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................... 2 2. THE CRISIS ........................................................................................................................... 2 3. THE WAY TO THE CRISIS...................................................................................................... 3 4. HOW DOES THE CRISIS AFFECT THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL SYSTEM? .................................... 4 5. WHAT IF GREECE LEFT THE EURO ZONE? ........................................................................... 5 6. IF GREECE HAS RECEIVED BILLIONS IN BAILOUTS, WHY IS THERE STILL A CRISIS? ............. 6 7. CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................... 7 8. BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................... 8 1|Page Greek Sovereign Debt Crisis 1. Introduction The economy of Greece is the 45th largest in the world with a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of $238 billion per annum. It is also the 51st largest in the world by purchasing power parity at $286 billion per annum. As of 2013, Greece is the thirteenth-largest economy in the 28-member European Union. Greece is classified as an advanced, high-income economy, and...
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...mentalities and, in many cases, a sense of infallibility. 1) LatAm sovereign debt crisis – 1982 : This crisis developed when Latin American countries, which had been gorging on cheap foreign debt for years, suddenly realized they could not repay it. The main culprits, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, borrowed money for development and infrastructure programmes. (causes ) Their economies were booming, and banks were happy to provide loans to the point where Latin American debt quadrupled in seven years. When the world’s economy went into recession in the late 1970s the problem compounded itself. Interest rates on bond payments rose while Latin American currencies plummeted. The crisis officially kicked off in August 1982 when Mexico’s finance minister Jesus Silva-Herzog said the country could not pay its bills. (how they overcome) It took years to sort out the crisis, with Latin American nations eventually turning to the IMF for a bailout in exchange for pro-market reforms and austerity programmes. It also led in 1989 to the novel creation of Brady bonds, which were designed to reduce debt in these countries by converting distressed sovereign debt into a number of different types of bonds. Furthermore, banks could exchange claims on these debts for tradable assets, which enabled them to get the debt off their balance sheets. 2) Savings and loans crisis – 1980s: while the solution to the Latin American crisis was being put together, a domestic one was happening right in front...
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...European Crisis From late 2009, fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed among investors concerning rising government debt levels across the globe together with a wave of downgrading of government debt of certain European states. Concerns intensified early 2010 and thereafter[3][4] making it difficult or impossible for Greece, Ireland and Portugal to re-finance their debts. On 9 May 2010, Europe's Finance Ministers approved a rescue package worth €750 billion aimed at ensuring financial stability across Europe by creating the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).[5] In October 2011 eurozone leaders agreed on another package of measures designed to prevent the collapse of member economies. This included an agreement with banks to accept a 50% write-off of Greek debt owed to private creditors,[6][7] increasing the EFSF to about €1 trillion, and requiring European banks to achieve 9% capitalisation.[8] To restore confidence in Europe, EU leaders also suggested to create a common fiscal union across the eurozone with strict and enforceable rules embedded in the EU treaties.[9][10] While the sovereign debt increases have been most pronounced in only a few eurozone countries, they have become a perceived problem for the area as a whole.[11] Nevertheless, the European currency has remained stable.[12] As of mid-November 2011 it was trading even slightly higher against the Euro bloc's major trading partners than at the beginning of the crisis.[13][14] The three most affected...
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...Introduction The Greek debt crisis in 2009 occurred as a result of an understated financial deficit and extreme spending. The stagnation of the Greek economy and the demotion in their debt rating did not aid their financial situation. Greece was then faced with the possibility of sovereign debt default. The failure of Greece to pay their debts required bailouts from the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). While the loan bailouts have eased short term liquidity problems, Greece still remained in financial turmoil which may even deteriorate. This research paper aims to explore the history behind the Greek debt crisis, the implications it has globally and on South Africa as well as the lessons that can be learnt from the crisis. Origins of the Greek debt crisis 2.1 Historical development: 2001-2008/09 In 2001 Greece became the twelfth member to join the Euro zone and was permitted to use the Euro (€) as its currency. Greece joined the Euro zone because of the benefits associated with being part of the Euro area. These benefits were essential to the economy of Greece who had a record of unpredictable inflation (Gibson, Hall & Tavlas, 2012). In addition, after Greece changed to the Euro they had the freedom to borrow money from foreign capital markets. During 2003-2007 government records showed Greece to be growing at 4% a year which gave investors’ confidence and made Greek bonds a popular investment...
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...Causes of Euro debt crisis 1. Profligacy of the European Government & Unsustainable Fiscal Policy Countries including Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy in Europe are now paying a heavy price on their profligate way of spending, as reflected by the Euro debt crisis starting from late 2009. Fiscal policy is the use of government expenses and taxation income so as to influence the economy, while the average fiscal deficits had grown from 0.6% in 2007 to 7% at the beginning of the debt crisis across the Europe (Économistes Atterrés, 2010). Therefore, more and more debts were being issued by the above governments so as to support their national expenses, leading to an excessive rise in government debt levels. For instance, the average government debts per GDP had raised from 66% to 84% in the same period (Krugman, 2012).Basically, government debt is the money owed by the central government to the debt holders. As a result, with a high level of the debt-to-GDP ratio may imply that the country is less likely to repay the debt holders but higher chance to default on its debt obligations. Greece, contributing about 3.3% of the annual GDP towards the European Union (Central Intelligence Agency, 2012), with a 165.3 % of debt-to GDP ratio in 2011, was responsible for the outbreak of the Euro debt crisis. Historically, Greece Government’s Debt to GDP ratio was already at a relatively high level across Europe (McAuley, 2011)(Graph 1). Following by the adoption of the...
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...excessive sovereign debt problems in Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain which all are members of European Union led to a crisis in the global financial system. As the European Monetary Union members use the Euro as the common currency, they do not have abilities to use independent monetary policy, the solution of this debt crisis which can influence the whole global financial system becomes to difficult to be found. Chart 1: How country debts and budget deficits compare [pic] Source: Eurostat Newsrelease Euroindicators 2010 According to the Chart 1 above, the debt of Italy is 115.8% of GDP and Greece (115.1% of GDP) is closely followed, while Ireland has the highest budget deficit of 14.3% of GDP and next is Greece (13.6% of GDP). However, the European Union member states were required to have 3% for the ratio of the actual government deficit to GDP as market prices and 60% for the ratio of government debt to GDP at market prices (Treaty on European Union, 1992). It is clear that all member states shown above broke the standard of Treaty on European Union and have excessive deficit and debt relate to the GDP. Government debt is defined as the government borrowing in order to satisfy the short-term liquidity needs or the longer-term budget capital expenditures (Edirisuriya, 2010). The government debt usually can be caused as an accumulated governmental deficit over several years or several decades. A large scale of debt, especially the sovereign debt, can cause rapid...
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...How did Europe Economic Crisis begin? After went through our research and discussion, we knew that many of the Western world borrowed too much due to low interest rates and cheap credit in the 2000s. According to the US, this issue caused a property bubble which burst in between 2007 and 2008, causing a financial crash as banks worldwide including Europe had to write off lots of assets so had much less money than they thought. This had two effects, it caused interest rates to rise a lot, so that banker couldn’t lend out money and governments took on lots of debt bailing out banks. Some countries in Eurozone such as Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece all had very high national debts, either from overspending pre-crash, or bailing out their collapsing banks. High debts plus recession which is decreasing government tax revenue plus high interest rates equals threat of bankruptcy. So, all the above issues are specific to Europe, and we are discussing about the Eurozone economic crisis. Basically, all countries adjust their economies with monetary policy. With a unified currency, less productive countries e.g. southern Europe couldn't do this, so became less competitive and borrowed. They also able to borrow at cheap interest rates because of the currency union. This was part of why debts got so high in the southern of Europe. At the same time, Eurozone not only facing all those problem but also another problem. Normally a country almost no default because it can just print...
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...WP/13/266 Financial and Sovereign Debt Crises: Some Lessons Learned and Those Forgotten Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff WP/13/266 © 2013 International Monetary Fund IMF Working Paper Research Department Financial and Sovereign Debt Crises: Some Lessons Learned and Those Forgotten1 Prepared by Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff Authorized for distribution by Stijn Claessens December 2013 This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF. The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate. Abstract Even after one of the most severe multi-year crises on record in the advanced economies, the received wisdom in policy circles clings to the notion that high-income countries are completely different from their emerging market counterparts. The current phase of the official policy approach is predicated on the assumption that debt sustainability can be achieved through a mix of austerity, forbearance and growth. The claim is that advanced countries do not need to resort to the standard toolkit of emerging markets, including debt restructurings and conversions, higher inflation, capital controls and other forms of financial repression. As we document, this claim is at odds with the historical track record of...
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...contained to the big banks and investment firms based mostly in New York City. By the time bailouts were implemented by the United States government, the effects of the financial crisis were exported to Europe. States similar, but not limited to Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain (PIIGS) have each been in the media spotlight in recent years as attempts to rescue their respective financial markets are implemented. Unfortunately, many efforts made by Eurozone member states and other international actors have failed in alleviating the financial stresses of the region. Considering this, then, is there really a permanent solution that can not only relieve financial markets but also prevent the crises from spreading? To date, the European Unions’ collective response up to this point has been insufficient in order to curb the further slide into Europe’s second recession. I contend, then, that Europe and the Euro would greatly benefit from following many if not all of Germany’s internal budgetary constraints in order to fix the overall problem of debt and spending. One of original intentions of the euro when it was established in 1992 was to limit the amount of budget deficit a sovereign member state could have. Furthermore, the euro was designed to prevent a “bailout” should a state be unable to meet its debt obligations. Consequently, the euro indirectly served as a scare tactic for member states to “pay their bills” or face a default. However, as the credit boom of 2003 – 2007...
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...Executive Summary Introduction Eurozone debt crisis, which is also known as European Sovereign debt crisis is an on-going financial crisis that the countries within the Eurozone such as Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Greece and Spain varying a certain degree that faces struggles to repay or refinance their government debt without the assistance of third parties. This has caused much worries faced by the European Unions and hence to the above crisis, thus causing a great impact beyond the borders to the world as a whole. We will look into various roles undertaken by the European Commission (EC), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in helping to solve the euro zone Debt Crisis. European Central Bank (ECB) The ECB is one of the seven institutions of the European Union which was listed in the Treaty on European Union where it administers the monetary policy of the 17 EU members’ states where euro zone is consider one of the largest currency areas in the world. Founded in 1998, the central bank is one of the most important in the world with more than 500 billion euros in its reserves. Currently, the bank is based in Frankfurt, Germany and led by Jean-Claude Trichet. The primary function of ECB is basically to implement monetary policy for Euro zone, responsible for the care of foreign reserves of the European System of Central Banks, and to promote and conduct smooth operating of the financial markets and foreign exchange functions. In addition...
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