Greece Defaulting On Its Debt Is Imminent, Here's Why

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Will they, won't they? seems to be the question on everybody's mind regarding Greece defaulting on its debt. Charles Robertson, global chief economist at Renaissance Capital, was on CNBC Thursday to explain why he thinks Greece will default on its debt and whether it will go back to using drachma.


Default Will Happen


"I think, the default is a given and, I think, but not necessarily this year," Robertson began. "But I do think it's a given and partly because of the demographic factors. The demographics of Greece are awful on the next 10 to 20 years. It's an ageing society, the number of people working unable to provide tax revenues to the government is going to be going down. And that we are arguing means the Greek debt is unsustainable on a multi decade view as well as looking unsustainable on the short-term."


He continued, "So, the debt default is very much part of what Syriza (current ruling party in Greece) is trying to push, it's what the U.S., the IMF seems to support. I mean, I read the IMF report saying that they need the debt default now because of Syriza because of the way it has [mugged] up the economy and the parallel currency that comes about if Sunday goes badly if the Germans are not prepared to back a deal."


Parallel Currency Leading To Drachma


Robertson was asked if a parallel currency is the way to go forward for Greece. He replied, "If Greece wants to get its unemployment rate down faster, then a parallel currency leading to the drachma is probably the quickest way to do it. And it gives a left wing government like Syriza more tools to enact the policies it would like to do."

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Posted In: CNBCMedia
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