On Feb 16, 2010, at 9:50 PM, Patrick Bond wrote:
> Doug Henwood wrote:
>> Greece would like trade finance.
>
> After its $150 bn default in 2002, Argentina showed that you just
> need to run a trade surplus and then you can deal with the minor
> hassles of short-term financing.
Greece has a current account balance of almost -10% of GDP. At least that's an improvement from 2008, when it was -14%. And the country is in the hole about $300 billion in its net foreign position. In 2002, Argentina was roughly in balance on its international investment position, and had a surplus on its current account. Greece, in other words, is a lot more dependent on foreign finance than Argentina was.
Doug