Reuters: Situation in Europe is serious

BERLIN, May 8 (Reuters) - Europe faces a serious situation with Greece not the only country subject to financial market pressures, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday.

"It is a serious situation," she told reporters in Berlin after meeting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"If you looked at the spreads from Friday or Thursday, you see we are facing a development that is not good in several countries, not just one country," she added.

Merkel said euro zone leaders made the right decisions on Friday, when they agreed to have special measures ready before financial markets open on Monday to prevent financial turmoil in Greece spreading to other countries such as Spain and Portugal. [ID:nSGE64608F]

The leaders agreed to take measures to accelerate budget consolidation, to make progress on financial regulation and to strengthen the governance of the euro area.

"We will undertake a collective effort. That means a joint instrument to react to speculation or threats to the stability of the euro area," Merkel said, without giving any details.

Finance ministers from the 27 European Union member states will meet in Brussels on Sunday to try to agree a mechanism for helping EU countries stave off future debt crises, EU sources said on Friday. [ID:nLDE6462E2]

Merkel added discussions among policymakers from the Group of 20 powers on exit strategies and future economic and financial policy should include foreign exchange issues

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6470AK20100508

 

NO SH*T

 

Leading Debt to GDP Figures

Country Name, Gross External Debt, GDP, percentage of external debt vs. GDP

1. Ireland – 2.386tr, 188.4b, 1267%

2. Switzerland – 1.338tr, 316.7b, 422.7%

3. UK – 9.087tr, 2.226tr, 408.3%

4. Netherlands – 2.452tr, 672b, 365%

5. Belgium – 1.246tr, 389b, 320.2%

6. Denmark – 607.38b, 203.6b, 298.3%

7. Austria – 832.4b, 329.5b, 252.6%

8. France – 5.021tr, 2.128tr, 236%

9. Portugal - 507b, 236.5b, 214.4%

10. Hong Kong – 631.13b, 306.6b, 205.8%

11. Norway – 548.1b, 275.4b, 199%

12. Sweden – 669.1b, 344.3b, 194.3%

13. Finland – 364.85b, 193.5b, 188.5%

14. Germany – 5.208tr, 2.918tr, 178.5%

15. Spain – 2.409tr, 1.403tr, 171.7%

16. Greece – 552.8b, 343b, 161.1%

17. Italy – 2.31tr, 1.823tr, 126.7%

18. Australia – 891.26b, 800.2b, 111.3%

19. Hungary – 207.92b, 196.6b, 105.7%

20. USA – 13.454tr, 14.26tr, 94.3%

 

source? explanations?

 

No one bothers posting links up for them anymore it's fucking annoying.

 

I found the information is other forum. There were no links posted.

 

you troll in several forums, dont ya?

 

so dont post if you dont know. At first sight Italy numbers cant be true...
and Switzerland...i dont know

 

Those numbers are bullshit. This post is nothing without a source, and it's numbers quoted are wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_European_Union

Moving it to chit chat where it can pretend it's right.

 

I found his source via google, it's the Gold Forum that starts with a K (not sure if I can post a link here). There was nothing interesting added to it there anyway, just some ramblings about derivative exposures. Another source is: http://www.picassodreams.com/picass...p-to-external-debt-default-is-inevitable.html

Without reference to assets and income, these stats can be misleading however.