株と釣り

George Soros issues stark economic warning

Debt spiral

In his speech at the City of London's Haberdashers' Hall, Mr Soros also spoke out against the international community's efforts to help debt-laden Greece recover, London's Daily Telegraph reported.

The financier said the International Monetary Fund and the eurozone countries that are stepping in to lend money to Greece had proposed a rescue package that could still send the troubled nation into a debt spiral.

"It is a question of solvency," Mr Soros said.

"If you start charging very high rates as the market does in anticipation of solvency then that pushes you into insolvency."

He said the package, which was finalised on the weekend, should offer concessional interest rates, rather than the 5 per cent on offer from eurozone countries and 2.7 per cent from the IMF.

"While 5 per cent is better than what the market is willing to offer, a rescue package should offer concessional rates," he said.

"If they don't [reach their debt reduction target], they have then to tighten even further, then your tax receipts go down and the economy goes further into tanking and then you go into a debt spiral.

"That is the danger that is still remaining."

Mr Soros also called for the "oligopoly" formed by the four largest banks in the United States to be broken up.

He said he was supportive of the so-called Volcker rule, an American proposal to block banks from taking part in proprietary trading and owning hedge funds or private equity operations, Bloomberg reported.