The Greek Can At the End of the Road?

An adviser to German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has told a Greek paper that the 50 percent haircut deal (PSI) is no longer operative:

The planned 50 percent writedown of Greek government bonds held by private creditors as part of a debt swap won’t be enough to make the country’s debt sustainable, an adviser to German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told To Vima in an interview.

The write down, which aims to lower Greece’s debt to 120 percent of gross domestic product in 2020, will have to be greater and shouldn’t be voluntary, Oxford University professor Clemens Fuest told the Athens-based newspaper.

I’ve just seen on Twitter a 60 percent number being batted around–no link as of yet.

In addition to the scuppering of the 50 percent “deal” agreed to in October, the significant part of this statement is that the haircut shouldn’t be voluntary.  This suggests that governments are tiring of the negotiations, and believe that immediate action is necessary.  Indeed, given the horror with which Euro officialdom had previously contemplated the possibility of an involuntary haircut of this magnitude–which would trigger CDS, if ISDA wants to maintain a shred of credibility–this drip-drip-drip of leaks indicates that said officialdom recognizes that the can has arrived at the end of the road.

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