Today’s Independent informs its readers that
The Irish sovereign cost of borrowing remains as high as that of Greece and Spain
It doesn’t give any figures to back up this assertion, nor could it because the figures flatly contradict what it says. On Wednesday 22 September El País published a chart showing 10-year bond yields: Greece 11.294, Portugal 6.304, Ireland 6.285, Spain 4.203, Germany (reference) 2.453
Since then Ireland has gone up to about 6.8 but it is still well below Greece and well above Spain. Portugal appears to be of no interest to the Independent.
The chart shows that Spain was moving more or less in line with these countries though below them until the end of July, when it started to level off while the others moved upwards. The end of July was when the bank stress tests were published. They were done at Spain’s instigation and Spain exposed 95% of its banks while other countries, the UK and Germany for example, stuck to the 50% minimum. Spanish banks passed with flying colours and the result is seen in the bond market. There is still, however, the problems that other countries’ difficulties might infect Spain, which is not fully out of the woods yet, as people believe the lazy stereotypes published by the Independent instead of looking at the figures.
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