Sovereign Default Could Be Looming In 2010

Interesting excerpt from the FT discussing the possibility that the Dubai situation could be opening our eyes to the possibility of other sovereign defaults that may be lurking in the wings.

• “For small peripheral European nations, the threat of sovereign insolvency is therefore a real one, unless EU fiscal solidarity can be relied upon to bail them out.  When Ireland was about to be swept away by a wave of global financial mistrust triggered by the Irish government’s decision to guarantee effectively all liabilities of its banks, the then German Finance Minister Steinbruck made the amazing statement (which he obviously had not checked with his coalition partners, his Chancellor or his voters) that the Eurozone countries would not let one of their own go into default.”
• “The year that has passed since then has made this implicit commitment to a Eurozone, let alone an EU cross-border sovereign bail-out rather less credible.  All EU sovereigns are, to varying degrees, in fiscal dire straits.  We may well see in the next few years the first sovereign default by an old EU15 country since Germany defaulted on its debt in 1948.  If the travails of Dubai wake us up to that possibility, they will have done some good.  Sovereign defaults are not acts of God.  They are the result of choices.  If we continue to play the political game in a business-as-usual mode, there could be quite widespread sovereign debt restructuring throughout the advanced industrial world.  If we grow up, we can avoid the worst.”

• “I see very good reasons to be worried that at some point in 2010 we are going to see more cases of ring-fencing because governments realize they can’t afford to guarantee the debts of these companies,” said Pierre Cailleteau, managing director of the global sovereign risk group and chief economist of Moody’s.

• Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard economist whose recent book, “This Time Is Different,” chronicles 800 years of financial crises, said: “I think right now every vulnerable country has one or two deep-pocketed backers that pretty much rule out a sudden run.” But Mr. Rogoff said he expected a wave of defaults about two years from now, when the countries now serving as implicit guarantors turn their focus to economic problems at home…….NYT

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