The Finance chiefs of the Group of Seven leading industrialized powers will hold emergency talks on the euro zone debt crisis on Tuesday.
It could be a good thing or just another whimper. The news and statement do not provide too great a comfort. It may just be more of the same medicine.
They effectively ruled out Spanish calls to allow euro zone rescue funds to lend money directly to recapitalize Spanish banks, which are weighed down with bad property debts, without the government having to take a bailout program.
If Spanish government remains on the hock to bail out its banking system and the ECB does not become lender of last resort then the spread between Spanish and German bonds will not reduce.
Chancellor Angela Merkel says that all the instruments are available to guarantee the safety of banks in the euro zone but then:
Germany, keen to limit liabilities for its taxpayers as the biggest contributor to euro zone rescue funds, has so far rejected proposals for a banking union with a joint deposit guarantee and a common resolution fund for failing banks.
United States, for its part, is also keeping the confusion going:
The United States has said it is unwilling to provide more money to the International Monetary Fund, which could support the euro zone, and the G7 source said there was little prospect of the global community acting as one to contain the crisis.
China, on the other hand, is busy preparing for doomsday;
China, another major G20 power, has instructed key agencies including the central bank to come up with plans to deal with potential economic risks of a Greek withdrawal from the euro zone, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Seems like just another day, week, month in the ongoing saga.
