“Greece will go to the markets mid-July, issuing T-bills of three, six and twelve months,” Deputy Finance Minister Philippos Sachinidis told Reuters. Wasn’t the EUR 110bn bail-out meant to prevent Greece from having to raise money in the market until 2012? And isn’t their fiscal consolidation program “ahead of the plan”? Seems that is not the case.

10yr Greek govt bonds today rose to 10.56% (+0.17); Spanish and Italian spreads also widened. Nouriel Roubini writes in the FT “Greece best option is an orderly default”. He compares Greece with Argentina in 1998-2001, a crisis that, despite funds from the IMF, culminated in a disorderly default. “Argentina’s fiscal deficit at the onset was 3 per cent of GDP; Greece’s is 13.6 per cent. Argentina’s public debt was 50 per cent of GDP; Greece’s is 115 per cent and rising. Argentina had a current account deficit of 2 per cent of GDP; Greece’s is now 10 per cent. If Argentina was insolvent, Greece is insolvent to the power of two or three.”

Once final thought: if you default on your debt, you might as well leave the Euro zone (punishment is the same).