Even as the International Monetary Fund and eurozone have virtually finalized an unprecedented three-year financing package of 110 billion euros for Greece, financial markets remain unimpressed. The common currency continued to plunge this week, and long-term government bond yields in Greece and the periphery countries, including Italy, spiked again after a short relief rally before the agreement.  The market's lukewarm reaction to the financing package confirms our view that a traditional financing package (Plan A), extended at unsustainable interest rates, will not allay solvency fears but rather lead to disorder and contagion. We have therefore consistently argued for a preemptive debt restructuring via maturity extension (Plan B) as the preferable solution for Greece. On May 4 Greek authorities confirmed that they contacted the investment bank Lazard for financial advice, but they categorically ruled out debt restructuring as an option under discussion.

Plan A includes the following core elements: 80 billion euros in bilateral loans will be provided by the eurozone at annual interest rates of about 5%, according to a previously negotiated formula, and 30 billion euros (i.e. 32 times quota) by the IMF through a standard stand-by arrangement. Although some eurozone member states--including Germany, which is facing regional elections on May 9--still have to ratify the unpopular disbursement, a new consensus has emerged among authorities and opposition that the main issue is not Greece per se but the gathering contagion to the rest of the eurozone. Unanimous approval by eurozone heads of state is due on May 7 at a special summit, following fresh reports that the Slovak government is holding up the disbursement for domestic election purposes.

THESTREET: STOCKS MIXED AS INVESTORS WEIGH EURO FEARS
The additional measures agreed by the Greek authorities will result in a front-loaded fiscal retrenchment of about 11 percentage points of GDP over three years with the aim to reducing the deficit below 3% of GDP by 2014. About half of the deficit reduction will come from expenditure cuts, the other half from tax increases and a broadening of the tax base, including from previously undocumented income. Greek authorities have accordingly revised down their growth forecast to -4% in 2010 and -2.6% in 2011 for a cumulative GDP volume retrenchment of 8.6% starting 2009. The debt ratio is expected to continue increasing, peaking at almost 150% of GDP by 2013 before starting to decline in 2014. The IMF will monitor the implementation of the program through quarterly reviews.

In the banking sector, 15 billion euros of the rescue package is earmarked for a "financial stabilization fund" aimed at credibly backing up the remaining 17 billion of the total 28 billion euros pledged by the authorities after the Lehman fallout. The major banks have already been downgraded to junk status by S&P, and other rating agencies might follow suit. Against previous assurances that the ECB would not ease the rules for one country alone, in an unprecedented U-turn the ECB has decided to suspend the minimum rating threshold for any Greek collateral with the ultimate aim to encourage investors to hold on to their investment.
*This article was published by  Forbes.com. Thursday, May  6,  2010