Feb
6th
Fri
6th
Key Figures of Euro Area Public Debt
Some macro figures from The Economist on the Euro area’s troubles:
- Public debt to be raised by Euro-area countries, Britain and Switzerland in 2009: €2 trillion or 17% of their GDP
- Public debt to be raised by Italy alone: €377 billion or 23% of GDP. Yet, Italy can borrow for 10 years at 4.6% a year
- Public debt to be raised by Ireland alone: €47 billion or 24% of GDP
- 10-year government bond spread between PIGS and German bunds increased from well below 50 basis points at the beginning of 2008 to over 250 bp for Greece and over 100 bp for Italy, Portgual, Spain. Ireland spread is over 200 bp.
Scariest sub-title yet: “What a default might look like”
