One kind of money, too many markets | Bangkok Post: opinion

EUROZONE

Europe's monetary union is screeching toward the abyss, unintentionally, but apparently inexorably.

Greece will most likely not meet the criteria to receive further financial assistance from its eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund. Europeans will then need to decide whether to let Greece go. The exit option would not improve Greece's chances of successful adjustment, and it would come at a steep price for the eurozone: it would be "in the money" _ and priced accordingly.

A Greek exit could, one hopes, be managed. The European Central Bank would contain the collateral damage by flooding Europe's banking system with liquidity (against subpar collateral). Or it will reluctantly relaunch its purchases of public-sector debt in secondary markets, capping the other peripheral eurozone economies' interest-rate spreads relative to the core.