It would appear that our Asian friends have confidence (and an interest) in the survival of the European project. Japan and China will help fund the European Financial Stability Fund that will be used to bailout European banks, sorry, I mean Ireland. With Japan pledging to buy 20% or more of the bonds that will be sold later this month. From Bloomberg –
There is a plan for the euro zone to jointly issue a large amount of bonds late this month to raise funds to assist Ireland,” Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said at a news conference in Tokyo today. “It’s appropriate for Japan to make a contribution as a leading nation to increase trust in the deal. We want to buy more than 20 percent.”
At least this shows that there is appetite in the market place for European-wide bonds, similar to those that would be issued under the e-bonds solution proposed by Jean-Claude Juncker and Giulio Tremonti. But can the German’s be persuaded? As Pete often points out, the euro-crisis hasn’t gone away, you know, and time is running out..
No bio, some books worth reading – The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves – Matt Ridley .
Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance -Nouriel Roubini, Stephen Mihm
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