New Fears on Europe, Italy's Borrowing Costs Jump Again

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号：tingroom，领取免费英语资料大礼包。

　　The euro currency and world stock markets also fell in value Friday.

　　The office of Italy's new Prime Minister Mario Monti issued a statement Friday saying that Germany and France had agreed with him at Thursday's mini-summit of the eurozones three largest economies that a debt collapse² in Italy would be "the end of the euro."

　　Both French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor³ Angela Merkel said at Thursday's meeting they would support Italy and the euro, and called for changes to European treaties to force better fiscal⁴ policies.  However, there was no agreement about increasing the role of the European Central Bank in supporting troubled eurozone economies, or selling unified⁵ eurobonds.

　　The lack of concrete action at the meeting in Strasbourg, France, fueled investor⁶ fears of possible debt defaults by southern European countries. Italy's sovereign debt currently is estimated at $2.6 trillion - far more than Greece or other European countries that have been given EU and IMF bailouts.

　　In Friday's auction of six-month Italian bonds, the government had to agree to pay 6.5 percent interest, nearly double the rate in a similar auction last month. Longer-term interest rates for Italian bonds are once again above seven percent - rates similar to those faced by Greece, Ireland and Portugal when they were forced to seek international bailouts.

　　Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Belgium's rating by one notch⁷ Friday, making it more expensive for Belgium to borrow in the future.

　　Belgium's rating was cut to AA from AA+ which is still investment grade, but the agency warned it is considering further cuts.

分享到：