Analysis: Lenders seen swallowing Greece's 80 bln euro demand
Ben Harding
ATHENS |
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece needs 10 times more aid in January than the 8 billion euros it is scrambling to secure by next month. International lenders are likely to grit their teeth and pay both bills to prevent a messy default that could take down Italy as well.Greece says lenders will need to frontload their proposed 130 billion euro bailout for Athens with an initial 80 billion euros because of the vast sums needed to cut private sector debt without destroying Greek banks in the process.
European leaders say Greece has consistently failed to sell state assets, chase tax evaders and slash the public sector as promised, prompting the exasperated leaders of France and Germany to openly suggest last month Athens might quit the euro.
"While they may well want to threaten Greece, when push comes to shove, euro zone governments may opt to put off disorderly default ... and the Greek government is aware of that," said Ben May at Capital Economics.
Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos is frank about Greece's urgent need for a big slice of the second bailout -- even before its lenders from the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank have signed off on the release of the prior loan, needed by mid-December.
"The next loan tranche ... is not like the sixth tranche of 8 billion euros but more than 80 billion euros in total," he told parliament on Tuesday, adding Greece would need it by early February at the latest.
GREECE HOLDS THE CARDS
New prime minister Lucas Papademos, a respected former European Central Bank vice-president, has made the bailout, agreed in Brussels last month, his coalition's top priority.
But while euro zone lenders appear to have the whip hand as the clock runs down, the trauma of a Greek default would still be too painful for the rest of the common currency area.
Though Greece, with 360 billion euros of debt, is a far smaller systemic risk than Italy, any withholding of financial aid would shatter an assumption that the euro zone will support any member in trouble.
Italian bond yields have burst through the psychologically key 7 percent barrier as political turmoil has stoked fears it lacks the means or will to fund its 1.8 trillion euro debt pile.
"Maybe the effect of Greece leaving the euro zone is priced in ... but the likelihood that Italy would then default has increased, so it becomes even more expensive to save Italy," said Christian Schulz, Senior Economist at Berenberg Bank in London.
Diego Iscaro, at IHS Global Insight in London, said he expected Paris and Berlin to grumble but ultimately to agree to the large tranche since Europe's EFSF bailout fund lacks the firepower to save Italy, making a Greek firewall more important.
"I think Athens' position is stronger than many on the outside realize."
THE 80 BILLION EURO QUESTION
One risk is that Greece's feuding parties use Papademos to secure the massive first installment of a new bailout program, then once his three-month mandate expires, revert to politics as usual. Since they will have had most of the money in one dollop, some may feel the remainder is not worth all the political pain.
Still, Athens can ill afford to slacken the pace of austerity as it will see little of the 80 billion euros before it flies out the door again.
Thirty billion will go to recapitalize Greek banks in order to absorb losses on a key pillar of the deal -- an agreement between banks, the EU and Greece to halve Athens' 200 billion euro debt to private sector bondholders.
To secure this private sector involvement (PSI), a further 30 billion euros will go to bondholders to sweeten the haircut, with one suggestion that they receive 30 percent of the discounted bonds in cash.
Greece said earlier on Thursday it had begun negotiations with banks to thrash out the swap of existing bonds for longer maturing, discounted paper.
Charles Dallara, head of the Institute of International Finance (IIF), which represents the banks, said before meeting Papademos in Athens on Wednesday that there was limited flexibility on the plan's terms to ensure it remained voluntary.
Adding urgency to the PSI negotiations is a tentative target for fresh parliamentary elections on February 19.
Only 20 billion euros of the 80 billion estimated by Venizelos will flow into state coffers and what it will be used for is unclear, reflecting the embryonic state of the PSI talks.
Five billion euros will go toward clearing debts to suppliers who have kept the country running, leaving the remaining 15 billion euros to pay for bond redemptions.
That war chest could be swallowed whole by a 14.5 billion euro bond which matures on March 20, according to Reuters data.
Creditors on the three-year issue are unlikely to accept any significant haircut or extension of its maturity this close to redemption, analysts said, particularly since the hit to net present value would be all the greater.
Neither Greece's finance ministry nor the country's debt agency would comment on what debt it would target with the 'spare' 15 billion euros.
In all, Greece has still to repay 8.7 billion euros up to the end of this year and 22.4 billion euros from January to end-March, Reuters data shows.
Athens estimates the PSI deal will save it 4.5 billion euros a year in interest repayments, but analysts say even that will not prevent a further default down the line, since Greek debt would still be at an "unsustainable" 120 percent of GDP by 2020.
"We would not be surprised to see further debt restructurings down the line," says Capital Economics' May.
"Greece could continue to play ball if it feels that the costs of defaulting are greater than the benefits, but in our view, at some point, Greece will feel it needs to restructure its debt again because it's simply too costly."
____________________
My Thots...
The greatest uncertainty in Greece is that of political risks.
Lucas Papademos will deliver but can he stay after Feb?
Will Antonis Samara honour the agreements that Greece under Papademos made with the Troika, should he be elected?
No comments:
Post a Comment