IMF to judge Greece as protests swell

ATHENS (Reuters) - European Union and IMF officials are expected to deliver their verdict this week on Greece's faltering drive to bring its budget deficit under control, but ordinary Greeks have warned that their patience is running thin. Greece last year won a 110 billion euro (95.4 billion pound) rescue package from the EU and International Monetary Fund, but since then has struggled to meet its deficit reduction targets, heightening the risk of a default on its 327 billion euro debt -- equivalent to 150 percent of economic output. European Central Bank board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi issued a dire warning against default and told the Financial Times it was a "fairytale" to think that Greece's debts could be restructured in an orderly way. "If you look at financial markets, every time there is mention of a word like 'restructuring' or 'soft restructuring' they go crazy - which proves that this could not happen in an orderly way, in this environment at least," he said. He added: "If Greece defaulted, the Greek banking system would collapse. It would then need a huge recapitalisation -- but where would the money come from?" The Italian said Greece could instead reduce its debt by selling assets and changing its tax and expenditure systems. "If you look at the balance sheet of Greece, it is not insolvent." But Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou has failed to win backing from the opposition to adopt fresh austerity steps, more economic reforms and faster sales of state assets, as demanded by the EU and IMF.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management warning

Jim O'Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, warned that the Irish rescue package did not solve the problems at the heart of the single currency.
"Unless there's an underlying solution to not just the debt challenge, but also to … how European monetary union sits together involving all these domestic political partners, how can we forget about the problems lurking with Portugal and Spain," O'Neill said in a TV interview.
Other market experts were also concerned about the eurozone. Graham Turner of GFC Economics said the solution for weak members might be for Germany to walk away from the single currency.
He suggested that Austria, Finland, the Netherlands and Germany could form a new deutschemark bloc which would allow the other 12 members of the eurozone to devalue and reflate their way out of the crisis. "It has to be a better option than the present straitjacket of a single currency," said Turner.
Stock markets tumbled as anxiety about contagion from Ireland was exacerbated by news, just as European trading began, that North Korea had shelled the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, near their disputed western border.Wall Street Journal,The Washington Times,Athens News,The New York Times,USA Today