27.12.2011
Sovereign Debt Crisis - Greece vs. Argentina

Everyday more and more headlines are being filled with the debt crisis in Europe. But the center stage of the developments in Europe is being taken away by Greece. As Greece is being basically bankrupt, its expenses are way bigger than its obligations; it is also being supported by the EU because of the fear of consequences from its collapse. Analyzing a Bloomberg article, about two economists, and their view of the Greece debt crisis, I found out that they tried to compare the “Greece crisis” with Argentina’s default in 2001. They argued about two lessons concerning how and what could Greece possibly go through.
According to the article “the first lesson has to do with the timing and size of the debt exchange”. As I figured out it is about building up the solvency for the debt in way to get access to capital markets. First of all in the article it says that “Greece and its private creditors have been invited to implement a bond exchange with a nominal discount, or haircut, of 50 percent of face value”. This voluntary agreement they also call the default. So in order to do the right thing, the Greece attempt to extend the debt relief beyond the 50% haircut agreed upon, should be assessed by someone. Also it is argued that the faster Greece starts contributing solutions instead of delaying their problem they will be able to begin normalizing the relationship with capital markets.
The second lesson as said in the article “relates to the role of liquidity in a solvency crisis -- or who takes care of the casualties the day after default?” Regarding to this statement what I have understood, is that Greece needs a central bank that will provide the solution for the bank solvency or liquidity. This central bank is called the European Central Bank. Instead of using the example, mentioned in the article, from