FRANKFURT (MNI) – The austerity package agreed on by Greek
authorities over the weekend in the face of violent protests was a key
step but not the last if the next aid tranche is to be paid to the
fiscally troubled country, European Central Bank Governing Council
member Ewald Nowotny said in an interview published Monday.
Nowotny, who heads the Austrian National Bank, told
DerBoersianer.com that the agreement “was certainly an important step,
but one must be conscious that with it, not all steps are fulfilled yet.
Until it really comes to a disbursement of the next tranche for Greece,
a few additional steps are still necessary.”
For Austria, regaining the lost triple-A rating is not the goal, he
said, but rather, “securing the current creditworthiness.” The negative
outlook given Austria by S&P with the downgrade is what the country
needs to concentrate on rectifying, he said, “and for this, the
[Austrian austerity] package should be helpful.”
While it is “not realistic” that a country will introduce a
financial transaction tax alone, he said, if Germany and France do so,
“a number of countries, including Austria, will follow suit.”
Though Nowotny refused explicitly to rule anything out, he said
“from today’s perspective” no further Austrian banks would need
government aid beyond the “two known banks.”
Asked about the danger of a deleveraging of banks, he noted that
the refinancing of banks is “a major topic Europe-wide.”
“There naturally exists the danger of deleveraging,” he said. “If
banks reduce their assets and extend less credit, than this would also
have a negative impact on economic growth.”
–Frankfurt bureau tel.: +49-69-720142. Email: dbarwick@marketnews.com
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