Albufeira perde 40 mil hóspedes e Lisboa estagna. Gaia é a surpresa do semestre

[Expat]

Depois de o custo para segurar a divida da Irlanda, depois da decisao de garantir os depositos, ter mais que duplicado e ser hoje bem superior ao custo para segurar a divida do Mcdonalds..tudo e possivel.!!

Deixo aqui o link para um artigo do FT que compara os depositos dos bancos europeus com os GDP anual desses paises.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/61d7e148-8f15-1 ... e%2Feurope

Abraco

[MozHawk]

(é desta que lá irei passar umas férias...)

Iceland Markets Hit by Bank Bailout Fears


In the U.S., markets worry that the government may not do enough to bail out its banks. In Iceland, they worry it can't.

On Friday, the cost of insuring Icelandic government debt soared to punitive levels, while the country's currency -- already worth less than half of what it was at the start of the year -- dropped 8% against the euro since Monday.

The trigger for the panic over Iceland's solvency came Monday, when the government pumped €600 million ($827 million) into Glitnir Bank hf, the country's third-biggest bank by market capitalization, taking a 75% stake.

Meant to reassure financial markets, the bailout instead heightened concerns that Iceland might have to prop up its other banks, too, but that it lacks the resources to do so.

Iceland has a population of just 300,000 and a gross domestic product in 2007 of around $20 billion -- less now that the currency has fallen so sharply. Its major banks have foreign-currency liabilities totalling $120 billion.

"If the Icelandic government is forced to bail out those banks, its debt could go up to astronomical levels as a share of GDP," says Ben May, an economist at London consultancy Capital Economics.

That concern has pushed up the cost of buying insurance on debt issued by Iceland's government to a level that normally indicates a borrower is in severe distress. On Friday, traders said it cost $1.5 million up front plus $500,000 a year to insure $10 million of Icelandic debt against default. That is up from $271,000 a year with no up-front fee a month ago, according to Markit Group, a credit-information firm.

"There is skepticism that Iceland's finances could cope with a systemic banking failure," said Gavan Nolan, a credit analyst at Markit.

Iceland's problems stem from years of international expansion by its banks, which has left them unusually big in relation to their home country, as well as reliant on borrowing from foreign banks and capital markets rather than from retail deposits.

The krona's latest tailspin could worsen the country's already sharp economic downturn. "No one wants to be holding the Icelandic krona," says Jon Harrison, a currency strategist at Dresdner Kleinwort in London. "No one wants to deal with the local banks."

Iceland Prime Minister Geir Haarde warned Parliament Thursday that Iceland was headed for severe trouble. "Government, companies, households and people have seldom faced such great difficulties," he said.

Iceland's government and central bank are working on possible measures to bolster investors' confidence in the country's banks and currency, including heavy government borrowing from abroad. Other options include a big increase in interest rates; the sale of all or parts of Iceland's two biggest banks, Kaupthing Bank hf and Landsbanki hf, or even a rescue package from the International Monetary Fund.