There is life after debt, OECD chief tells Greece
Greece will overcome its fiscal problems and find that ?there?s life after debt,? said Angel Gurria, secretary general of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Gurria, a former Mexican finance minister, said Greece faces problems similar to those once tackled by his own nation.
?Mexico never defaulted, but they negotiated with their own creditors a voluntary arrangement,? Gurria said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Rome. ?After a few years, we moved along to other, more definitive solutions. In the end, I can tell you: there?s life after debt.?
One year after the 110 billion-euro ($160 billion) bailout that aimed to end the region?s debt crisis, Greece is in danger of defaulting without a new rescue package. Some European countries, led by Germany, have pushed for private investors to shoulder some of the burden of a new aid plan and are seeking commitments from banks and insurers to roll over 30 billion euros of bonds into longer-maturity debt to ease the country?s financing needs.
The final solution for the Greek debt crisis will have to involve private creditors, Gurria said.
?Every day there is a new plan, there are so many plans,? he said. ?We?re not very well coordinated in explaining and speaking. We should speak with a sole voice. I think we are still not there. I think the ultimate solution will have to involve creditors.?
[Bloomberg]
