Moody’s Cuts Ratings on 30 Spanish Banks After Country Downgrade

Thirty of Spain’s smaller banks had their senior debt and deposit ratings downgraded, as Moody’s Investors Service reviews whether governments are willing to support all their lenders in a crisis.

Citing heightened financial pressure on the country’s sovereign rating and “many weak banks,” the New York-based ratings firm cut 15 lenders by two levels and five by three or four, according to a statement today. The outlook on most banks’ senior and deposit ratings remains negative, Moody’s said. ......

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Socrates Defeat Pushes Portugal Closer to EU Bailout

Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates tendered his resignation after plans to cut the budget were rejected by parliament, pushing the country closer to an international bailout.
President Anibal Cavaco Silva said late yesterday he will meet the main parties on March 25 and the government will retain its powers until he accepts Socrates’s resignation. The vote came hours before European Union leaders meet in Brussels to sign off on measures aimed at drawing a line under the region’s sovereign debt crisis...................

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Can Greece pull it off?

The article was published in www.voxeu.org on March 18, 2011,
 Giancarlo Corsetti ,  Michael P., Devereux ,  John Hassler  , Gilles Saint-Paul  , Hans-Werner Sinn,   Jan-Egbert Sturm  , Xavier Vives

Will the Greek rescue package be enough or is restructuring inevitable? In this column, members of the European Economic Advisory Group argue that even if the sovereign debt crisis is resolved, Greece must deal with its unsustainable current-account deficit. This requires an unenviable choice between internal and external depreciation and a government strong enough to take on the country’s rife tax evasion.

By the third quarter of 2009 Greece had experienced the smallest drop in GDP relative to its peak level in 2008 among all Eurozone countries. It appeared that the country would be able to weather the global economic crisis with only a small dent on its stellar growth performance over the last decade. However, during the spring of 2010, it became clear that this performance was based on an unsustainable public and private spending spree that was reflected in the double-digit government budget and current account deficits. The Greek government was in serious financial trouble and needed massive support. In May 2010, a gigantic rescue package was put together by the European Commission, the ECB, and the IMF, in order to help Greece and reduce the risk of contagion to other EU member states.

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reading the full artivle press here

Europe's Debt Crisis Trumps Japan Tragedy

While the world has been transfixed with Japan, Europe has been struggling to avoid another financial crisis. On any Richter scale of economic threats, this may ultimately matter more than Japan's grim tragedy. One reason is size. Europe represents about 20 percent of the world economy; Japan's share is about 6 percent. Another is that Japan may recover faster than is now imagined; that happened after the 1995 Kobe earthquake. It's hard to discuss the "world economic crisis" in the past tense as long as Europe's debt problem festers - and it does. ............................

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Europe’s Banks Would Need $355 Billion in S&P Stress Scenario

Europe’s banking system would need as much as 250 billion euros ($355 billion) of new capital if faced with a “sharp” increase in yields and a “severe” economic contraction, Standard & Poor’s said in a report.
The report imagines three stages that may happen from 2011 to 2015 including soaring yields triggered by an interest-rate shock, restricted market access for weaker sovereigns and a “very severe” downturn in the economies of Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain................

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Muddle, fuddle, toil and trouble. European leaders boldly decide to carry on muddling through

A BARGAIN, but not a grand one. Euro-zone leaders surprised many on March 12th by agreeing on the main elements of a deal to salve Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis. With negotiations becoming fractious and markets unnerved by further ratings downgrades on Greek and Spanish debt, there had been fears that a deal might not be reached by a deadline of March 25th, when Europe’s heads of governments conclude their next meeting in Brussels. In the event, a special summit of euro-area leaders hammered the essentials out two weeks ahead of schedule.........................

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Euro re divided

The so-called euro crisis is generally seen exclusively as a currency crisis, but it is also a sovereign-debt crisis – and even more a banking crisis. The situation’s complexity has bred confusion, and that confusion has political consequences.
Indeed, Europe faces not only an economic and financial crisis, but also, as a result, a political crisis. The various member states have forged widely different policies, which reflect their views rather than their true national interests – a clash of perceptions that carries the seeds of serious political conflict.

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