Details here.
Year: 2012
See this Vox article.
Indeed. Today sees Iceland(!)’s sovereign debt return to the rim of investible as Fitch upped their rating of Iceland(!)’s debt to BBB- but stable. In other Icelandic news it looks as if a debt forgiveness programme mooted in 2009 is going ahead, their top civil servant in their department of finance is in prison, and, delving into the Icelandic stats a little the nation’s GDP is looking pretty healthy, too.
This OECD background paper gives an overview of the crisis and the Icelandic authority’s response to it.
So: we are not Iceland!
For no other reason than it has an interesting title.
Can Irish Potatoes Save the World Economy?
A recent trend, a move back to the way things used to be, might be the best news for Ireland and the world. A bloated worldwide market of institutional products, produced for their economy rather than quality, shipped hither and to in order that some profit, has put our one world economy into a tailspin. Meanwhile, it just may be, you and your next door neighbor are once again, the only ones capable of picking up the pieces.
Over in Ireland, some local hotels, business people, and organizations are showing us all how.
On of the countries hit hardest by this Great Recession, Ireland, is of particular interest to me. My folks sailed over to America from Kilkenny back when, but this is not the main reason for my concern over the emerald Isle. Besides an affinity for Ireland, there’s another really good reason to pay attention to the Irish. If there’s anybody on Earth that can show us how to get past hard economic times, it’s Ireland. Rain or shine the Irish always seem to come out okay. Part of the reason being, I believe, Ireland is at its heart a local community first.
If you really want to you can read the whole thing.
At the time of the first Greek bail-out in May 2010, several commentators felt that there should have been a default, haircut, PSI, roll-your-own euphemism. It seems this view was shared at the IMF but not at the ECB and not by EU decision-makers so extend-and-pretend won the day. That deal has come unstuck, as predicted. This story in today’s Sunday Telegraph looks like it has decent sources:
The debt sustainainability analysis in the last IMF report on Greece looked like a triumph of hope over experience. The Telegraph is reporting new troika calculations that Greece faces, in 2020, and after a large haircut, a second bailout and eight further years of austerity, an exit debt ratio of 129% of GDP.
The Bundesfinanzministerium, according to the paper, is preparing for an endgame earlier than 2020. Perhaps they have seen Becket’s play:
‘Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.’