Oliver Blanchard, IMF Chief Economist: Haircut On Greek Debt Will Be 'Very Large'

WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The IMF's chief economist, Olivier Blanchard, said on Monday it looks like the 'haircut' on Greek private debt will be "very large" as negotiations between bondholders and the government drag on to cut Greece's debt burden.

"With respect to private creditors at this stage it looks like the haircut will be very large," Blanchard told an event at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

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Comments

[jo smith456]

07:10 PM on 02/06/2012

Sadly, this means that the US-led international banking system will literally "skin" the Greeks... Banks are designed that way...

[Martha Fair]

05:28 PM on 02/06/2012

The Greek people, said on Monday it looks like the 'French haircut' will be given to Greek hedge fun operators who manipulated the stock market and in turn blamed the countries woes on entitlements just as they have managed to do on a global scale. Heads will roll from the monetary facsicts responsible rather than blaming the Greek people how they had originally planned.

[NOSOCIALNETS]

05:22 PM on 02/06/2012

A "large" haircut. Next time I am at the barber shop, I will ask for a LARGE haircut.
Not a trim, not a short, but a LARGE!!!

[jcaunter]

05:08 PM on 02/06/2012

The Greek haircut will be a 'credit event' heh. Que the collapse of the western central banking system.

[becky bradshaw]

04:28 PM on 02/06/2012

A better perspective would be time-lapse photography. The Greeks concede some freedom and standard of living to the Big Banks.

Six months later, the Big Banks are back, and the Greeks concede a little more freedom and standard of living to the Big Banks.

The Big Banks return every few months for more concessions.

In a few years, the Greeks are sending their children to the labor camps, moving into "efficiency" dormitories, and scuffling in the streets for crumbs from the Aristocracy.

The Final Act: Headlines from Frankfurt and New York: "The Greek Economic Miracle" .

[NOSOCIALNETS]

05:23 PM on 02/06/2012

Read Richard K. Morgan's "Market Forces" a dystopic masterpiece.

[demsrsilly]

05:09 AM on 02/07/2012

No, what should happen is that Greece should continue with the huge entitlement programs.

[becky bradshaw]

06:34 AM on 02/07/2012

If not for Greece debt service, they would have a budget surplus this year. (http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-09-19/markets/30174641_1_eu-and-imf-greece-spending-surplus)

[blood1]

04:21 PM on 02/06/2012

Kenz, so who isn't paying taxes? There are some very big demands that are being demanded by EU and IMF on the actual citizen's of Greece, such as a cut in the minimum wage. If this cut is under minds the average worker's ability to have a reasonable life, would that mean the overall decline in their population and ability to meet the needs of tourists.

I'll bet a nickel that most here don't know about Greece to make a valid argument, but the IMF is not necessarily the nicest of agencies to deal with (from what I've read).

[Kenz300]

03:42 PM on 02/06/2012

Now if they could only get the Greek people to pay their taxes.

They have made of game of avoiding taxes.