First Iceland, now Ireland?

[Fittster]

So Björk and co had the go to the IMF for a bail out but are the Irish about to go down the same route?

"During a speech in Tokyo, Ireland's Taoiseach Brian Cowen commented that the IMF may be called in to help the country's recession-hit economy, warning that people had to "get real" about the severity of the situation."
http://www.axiafx.com/newsarticle.asp?article=2093

"Ireland is to demand pay cuts for civil servants and public employees to prevent the budget deficit soaring to 12pc of gross domestic product by next year – becoming the first country in the eurozone to resort to 1930s-style wage deflation to claw back competitiveness."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/4241720/Ireland...

[Fittster]

At least Bono will give up saving the rest of us.

[Fittster]

Uncle Fester said:

The IMF has to get its money from somewhere. It has some, and then it has legally binding agreements with governments that they will come up with some money if the IMF asks them for it. This is known as ‘Special Drawing Rights’ (SDR).

Err, can't they just flog some of their gold reserves?

[Fittster]

Hmmm, we seemed to have moved on from Banks to Countries going broke!!

Ireland:

"Ireland's entire banking system may have to be nationalised after the country's six-member financial index fell the most since 1993, according to a leading economist."#

Spain:

"Standard & Poor's has stripped Spain of its coveted AAA status in the first such move against a top-rated country since the global crisis began, reflecting the deep damage suffered by Spanish public finances as the debt bubble bursts."

GB:

"UK bonds tumbled today as Gordon Brown's second bank bail-out sparked fears that Government borrowing will balloon to a new record."

[Fittster]

The tiger looks a bit sick:

"FEARS are mounting that Ireland could default on its soaring national debt pile, amid continuing worries about its troubled banking sector.

The cost of buying insurance against Irish government bonds rose to record highs on Friday, having almost tripled in a week. Debt-market investors now rank Ireland as the most troubled economy in Europe.

Pledges made by Ireland to support its banking sector amount to 220% of the country’s annual economic output. The total loans held in Irish banks are more than 11 times the size of the economy."

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/eco...

[Fittster]

"German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said on Monday euro zone countries would have to pull together if one of them faced a "serious situation," adding that Ireland was in a "difficult situation."

It was the first time Germany, the euro zone's biggest economy, directly mentioned helping Ireland, which has seen its credit rating questioned and put on negative outlook at some agencies on worries of a deepening recession."

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN16...

[Fittster]

Ireland has had its sovereign credit rating cut to ’AA+’ from the previous top ranked ’AAA’ by Standard and Poor’s as the global slump continues to ravage the country’s finances.

The former ‘Celtic Tiger’ economy is the second eurozone country after Spain in January to lose its top ranking since the onslaught of the crisis.

S&P said Ireland’s rating outlook was “Negative,” meaning it could be lowered again.“The downgrade reflects our view that the deterioration of Ireland’s public finances will likely require a number of years of sustained effort to repair, on a scale greater than factored into the government’s current plans,” S&P said.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/eco...

It's getting closer.