Greece’s debt crisis cannot be solved without a debt write-down that will most likely exceed that agreed upon this summer, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Sunday, adding that he hoped Europe’s banks would work with governments on a plan.
In July, European banks agreed to a voluntary writedown of 21 percent on their Greek debt.
Asked in an interview with broadcaster ARD whether there could be a Greek debt write-down of as much as 50 or 60 percent, Schaeuble said: “A lasting solution for Greece is not possible without a debt write-down, and this will likely have to be higher than that considered in the summer.”
Photo: Reuters
Germany and France have said they would present a crisis resolution plan in time for a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Sunday.
“The details are being discussed now. They don’t all have to be ready by the EU summit, but the principles must be clear,” Schaeuble said.
“Of course we would like, if possible, to agree [on private sector participation] together with the banks,” he said. “But it is clear there must be a level of participation which is enough to bring about a lasting solution for Greece. That is enormously difficult.”
In a separate interview with broadcaster ZDF, Schaeuble reiterated the need for banks to be recapitalized to prevent an escalation of the crisis.
“We need better regulation and we also need a better capitalization of banks, which is what we are doing in the short-term. Not everyone will like it, but it is the best way to ensure that we don’t have an escalation in the crisis due to a collapse in the banking system,” he said.
“We must fight the danger of contagion. We simply have to recognize that banks don’t trust each other at the moment, which is why the interbank market doesn’t function as it should,” he said.
“The best means to tackle this is better capitalization,” he added.
Meanwhile, the IMF will release funds to Greece if the country’s economic situation is clarified, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said yesterday on Europe 1 radio.
Lagarde also said that the IMF currently has “adequate” resources to meet its needs. State support for banks should be a last resort, she added.
“I believe that today the IMF has adequate resources,” Lagarde told Europe 1 radio after some member nations of the G20 meeting in Paris on Friday and Saturday called for increased resources for the world body.
The US said that an increase was unnecessary.
Asked what she considered an adequate level of resources for the IMF, Lagarde declined to give figures.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained