sigmalive.com — German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble repeated his view that Greece did not need a nominal debt haircut, during a dinner held in his honour by newspaper Handelsblatt.
He explained that Greece was free of any debt burden for the next 10 years, adding that if the debt was not sustainable in the medium term the matter would be reassessed accordingly. Schauble stated he was optimistic that a deal would be reached with Greece in 2 weeks, stressing the average time for loan maturity from the IMF was 31 years.
He underlined that the positive news was the unemployment figures were falling in Greece, while the economy was growing and the deficit was smaller.
The German politician predicted that the long term fiscal adjustment would be a difficult political one for Greek PM Alexis Tsipras.
On the matter of the EU’s collaboration with Turkey on the refugee crisis, Schauble said he was not particularly fond of Turkish President Erdogan, adding however, that ‘we have to cooperate with him.’
Moreover, German Finance Minister said central banks should start finding ways to gradually raise their record-low interest rates, though he refrained from naming the European Central Bank whose monetary policy he has often criticised.
“I have repeatedly said that the zero rates and negative rates, which we have, carry an enormous political risk,” Schaeuble told an event hosted by business newspaper Handelsblatt. “Therefore I would much prefer that the central banks gradually try to find a way out of the unusual monetary policy, gently and cautiously.”
