| IRELAND - Banking crisis: next after Greece? Can one bank bring down a country? The situation is so serious in Ireland that the whole of Europe has been asking just that. A medium size lender, Anglo Irish bank, collapsed when the property bubble burst 2 years ago and had to be nationalised. The bank has already cost the Irish tax payers over 25 billion euros. Ireland has been downgraded twice by credit rating agencies in a couple of months and thanks to this bank, it has the highest deficit in Europe, over 20% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The cost of saving the whole of the Irish banking sector is expected to cost tax payers around 90 billion euros. And without European financial solidarity, Ireland would be bankrupt. Economists have feared a repetition of the Greek financial crisis, one that could be fatal for the European currency. www.france24.com |
