Argentina May Provide A Good Example For Dealing With Eurozone Debt

This article proposes Argentina as an example for how the eurozone crisis might be resolved. Austerity measures have been imposed upon indebted southern european countries in the expectation that this will enable them to become creditworthy. The problem is that debt to GDP ratios won't improve without growth in GDP. Austerity has proven to be bad medicine for economic growth.

One of roadblocks in the eurozone is that banks in core countries hold much of the sovereign debt that is at risk. The debt needs to be written down in order to give the indebted countries any hope for recovery. That is not popular with the electorates and the politicians in the core countries. Argentina faced the problem and offered their creditors an upside to compensate them for the debt forgiveness they needed. They issued warrants that gave the creditors the opportunity to benefit from GDP growth above 3.3%. Argentina is doing very well today and so are their creditors. They got a 500% return on their investment.