Greek default edges nearer

Looks like Ms Lagarde may not get to the IMF in time to bend their rules as she bent the Lisbon treaty. Andrew Lilico notes

As of May 10, Belarus and Greece had the same credit rating. Less than a fortnight later, on May 23, Belarus devalued its currency overnight by around 55 per cent. The people of Belarus are now sweeping supermarket shelves clean and queuing outside currency exchanges.

Meanwhile, the IMF says it won’t give Greece its next tranche of funds unless the EU guarantees to finance Greece into 2012, but the Eurogroup president today said that Germany and Finland won’t accept that. A “Senior Western diplomat” has been quoted by Reuters as saying that the US regards a Greek restructuring as “100 per cent unavoidable”

And Eric Edmond notes a Telegraph story that Greeks with money have been getting it out of the country to invest in top end pied a terre flats in London as are those from Italy and Spain. These nationalities account for 36% of such flat purchase according to up market estate agents, Savills.

All the signs are pointing to a default.