Against the tide: Sovereign debt crisis – Beyond the death zone

The Greek debt saga reveals a serious risk of a global sovereign debt crisis. Global public sector debt has soared to unsustainable levels as central banks and governments have tried to mitigate the impact of private sector deleveraging. But markets are now waking up to this. They are focusing on those sovereigns with large debt burdens and are beginning to price their paper accordingly.

There are many differences between the economies of the so-called Piigs (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) and the larger G7 economies – almost as many as the differences between sub-prime and prime mortgages.