Greeks should take a leaf out of Dubai's book

At last, some sanity in the increasingly desperate Greek debt crisis, writes Frank Kane.

At last, some sanity in the increasingly desperate Greek debt crisis.

EU leaders are now thinking the previously unthinkable, and considering a plan to let Greece default on some of its private-sector bonds.

If adopted - a full deal is still some way off - it would prepare the way for payment of life-saving financial injections from the EU and other international financial institutions, amounting to perhaps €200 billion (Dh1.03 trillion), to keep the country afloat for the next two years.

It could also stop the spread of contagion to the bigger economies of Italy and Spain, increasingly on the rack in the international debt markets, and shore up the euro, also under pressure.

For the best of motives, the politicians have been trying to avoid the possibility of, even the mention of the word, default, for weeks. They believed that any selective default in Greece would lead to investors pulling the plug on other big economies. Ratings agencies such as Moody's and S&P have been highlighting the dangers vividly.

The talk now is of "selective default", in which some of the value of the country's bonds is written off. About €60bn of Greek debt is held by private investors, largely European financial institutions. If a portion of that were to be restructured, the Greeks could get on with the job of trying to restore their shattered economy.

There is a lesson to be learned from Dubai in this respect. In 2009, the emirate effectively ring-fenced some US$25bn (Dh91.83bn) of debts owed by the government-owned conglomerate Dubai World and then restructured these liabilities.

In Dubai, the bankers took the pain of the rescheduling, but the strategy enabled the rest of the emirate to rebuild. The EU, and the Greeks, should do likewise.