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Business Daily: Why Greece is not Europe's Lehman's

17/06/2011

Why Greece is not Europe's Lehman's

BBC World Service - Business Daily, Why Greece is not Europe's Lehman's

Why the crisis in Greece is not Europe's "Lehman's moment"

Greece's debt drama has been unfolding for 18 months now so why does it still have the power to cause turmoil in the markets? Surely everyone has already factored in the risk of default?

The rioters are back on the streets and the spectre of a Greek default is once again frightening the financial markets. Commentators accross the world are calling the on-going crisis the "Lehman's moment" for the Euro-zone.  

Well, here at Business Daily we like to question received wisdom and that claim struck us as - well - a little "insubstantial".  

Surely the reason the collapse of Lehman Brothers caused such turmoil was because it came out of the blue and suddenly made everyone question the security of the entire banking system? The Greek crisis, meanwhile, has played out over 18 months in the full glare of public scrutiny.  

The immediate risk of default has now been averted thanks to a deal between the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to provide loans to repay Greece's maturing debt. But, nevertheless the drama in Greece has caused bond yields in other indebted eurozone countries - most notably Spain - to jump.  

So how come, if everyone can see what happening, this on-going crisis still has the power to upset the markets? Justin Rowlatt interviews Jan Randolf, the head of sovereign risk at the economic analysis firm IHS Global Insight.

Plus we have two very different takes on Russia's attempts to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

First we have a report from Damien McGuinness. America is backing Russia's application to the WTO because it believes membership would boost Russian trade with the West - to everyone's advantage. The only hurdle now comes from the tiny former Soviet Republic of Georgia, which fought a war with Russia in 2008.  

Georgia, a WTO member, is threatening to use its veto power to stop Russia entering. So Russia has been on something a charm offensive on its former foe. To win Georgia over, Moscow says it may lift its embargo on Georgian wine, introduced in 2006 in the run-up to the war. But Georgians are now saying they are not so sure they want back in to the Russian market after all.

Second, Jamie Robertson takes us on a tour of the Russian railway system - another block to Russian integration with world markets.

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