Greece Aid ‘Kicking Can Down Road,’ Says Pimco’s Balls
(Corrects Balls comment in headline and story, which was published on June 21.)
Any attempts to solve Greece’s sovereign crisis with a new bailout will be like “kicking the can down the road,” said Andrew Balls, Pacific Investment Management Co.’s head of European portfolio management.
Even if the nation is granted fresh aid, “these issues are going to come up again in the next months,” Balls told Andrea Catherwood on Bloomberg Television today. It would be “complacent if investors think this can be kicked down the road until 2013,” he said.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou faces a confidence vote today as he seeks to secure parliamentary support for austerity measures required for the granting of outside aid to prevent a default.
Balls said the only benefit of a Papandreou victory would be to buy some time to prevent contagion spreading to other economies, such as Spain’s.
“The concern we have is that if you continue to kick the can down the road, you raise the risk of a disorderly default and worse contagion impact,” he said. “If you just told the truth and said Greece looks like it will need to restructure its debt” you could then “try and have a supportive orderly framework to do that.”
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark McCord at mmccord2@bloomberg.net
Europe Falters in Bid to Rescue Greece
Kostas Tsironis/Bloomberg
Columns from the temple of Olympian Zeus and the Parthenon sit at the top of Acropolis hill in Athens, Greece. Decisions on the next payout and a three-year follow-up package were put off until early July, prolonging Greece’s fiscal agony.
Columns from the temple of Olympian Zeus and the Parthenon sit at the top of Acropolis hill in Athens, Greece. Decisions on the next payout and a three-year follow-up package were put off until early July, prolonging Greece’s fiscal agony. Photographer: Kostas Tsironis/Bloomberg
June 21 (Bloomgberg) -- Andrew Balls, head of European portfolio management at Pacific Investment Management Co., discusses the Greek debt crisis. Balls speaks with Andrea Catherwood on Bloomberg Television's "Last Word." (Source: Bloomberg)
Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou
Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images
Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou.
Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou. Photographer: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images
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