Sovereign debt risk visualised
This striking graphic from the New York Times shows how interrelated Europe’s debt crisis really is.
The NYT says that the five shaky economies of Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Italy all owe each other billions of Euros (converted into dollars). And have even larger debts to Britain, France and Germany.
Nearly one third of Portugal’s debt is held by Spain, for example. With an unemployment rate at 20%, Spain has one of the weakest economies in Europe.
Citing the independent Irish economist Ronan Lyons the Financial Times argues that not all debt is equal. And since much of what’s depicted in this infographic is not actually real government debt the actual picture is much less worrisome.
You might also be interested in: The credit crisis animation
