The head of the German-based Ifo economic institute, Hans-Werner Sinn, talked to Bloomberg and said that “southern euro-region countries need debt relief to revive economic growth and creditors should pay the cost”
The economist referred to the Asian financial crisis that started in 1997 and it was resolved with debt relief rather than by drawing money from the taxpayers and continued this mode should be adopted by European policy makers.
“Households and companies are over-indebted, banks are over-indebted, states are over-indebted and national central banks are over-indebted” said Sinn and added that “It’s not nice for the creditor to recognize that he won’t get his money back, but the sooner he faces the truth, the better.”
Sinn continued by saying that “with debt burdens at almost unbearable levels, “we need a debt conference in Europe to grant partial debt relief to the southern countries,” and added that “This has to be negotiated jointly, since it involves several countries.”
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