Greece And Ireland Wipe Out Half Euro Stabilisation Fund

Remember Shock & Awe, the ECB bail-out fund, said to be worth 1 trillion Euros.  In the event, only 440 billion euros were raised.  I'm not saying that those who want the Euro saved will not be capable of finding more cash if and when the need arises, but in the first few months of Euro bail-outs, which could last for years, and affect many eurozone countries, almost half the original fund has gone.  200 Billion Euros are needed just this year alone for two of the smallest eurozone members.

The FT writes - According to EU and Irish officials, the figure will be less than last May’s €110bn rescue of Greece, but will run into tens of billions of euros.

Klaus Regling, who runs the eurozone’s €440bn stabilisation fund for imperilled member states, said on Friday that the IMF and EU experts might need a full two weeks to finish their tasks – meaning that the bail-out might not be announced until December.

Antonio Garcia Pascual, economist at Barclays Capital, estimated the IMF-EU plan could involve €22bn-€37bn for restructuring and recapitalising Irish banks, plus about €60bn in contingency money to cover the Irish state’s funding needs between 2011 and 2013.

You wonder what might happen if the world's stock markets were to go into a dive in the next couple of years, and a period of market pessimism were to descend.  The sums required could balloon.  Germans will not be pleased, I doubt.

. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/33e6ebcc-f3e9-11df-901e-00144feab49a.html#ixzz15sSb0oXi