# How Greece could restructure the debt (this might happen for Ireland as well)



## Godfather (10 May 2011)

Hi everyone, today a very interesting article appeared on an italian paper (sole 24 ore: http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/fina...turazione-inevitabile-fare-senza-222108.shtml ) with an interview to Nouriel Roubini (American professor of economics at New York University's Stern School of Business and chairman of Roubini Global Economics) and here is the google-translation of a key question on how he would restructure greek debt:
"_I propose a restructuring in which the face value of debt is not reduced in this way the banks and pension funds may continue to pretend that is worth 100 cents on the euro, and then keeps the same face value but pushes the maturity of 10-20 - 30 years and reduces the coupon on new debt at much lower levels than current market rates. This means that even if the nominal value of debt is not reduced, there is a reduction based on a net present value of the debt value. This is what has been done in the case of Brady Bonds, what has been done in the case of debt restructuring in Uruguay, Pakistan, Dominican Republic, Ukraine. There are several examples in which these market-friendly renovations were done in an orderly manner, leading to a situation where the debt becomes more sustainable._"

Does it make sense to you? What does "keeps the same face value but pushes the maturity of 10-20 - 30 years and reduces the coupon on new debt at much lower levels than current market rates" mean in your opinion?


----------



## jpd (10 May 2011)

In Ireland's case, this could be done as follows, taking the 5% Treasury Bond 2013 as an example.

This bond is due to be repaid on 18/04/2013 and has an outstanding principal of € 6bn.
The nominal interest paid is 5% or €300m per year.

At current market rates, you can buy this bond today for around €90 euro and receive €5 interest in 2012 and 2013 and plus the capital €100 in 2013 giving an effective interest rate of 12%

Rather than paying back the €6bn in 2013, the government could say that, we will contineu to pay the 5% interest, but will not repay the capital until 2033.


----------

