LONDON Everyone knows that Greece will default on its external debt. The only question concerns the best way to arrange it so that no one really understands that Greece is actually defaulting.

And yet things are not necessarily so black and white. A country that is defaulting can emphasize that the rejection of a particular debt payment does not necessarily entail a rejection of the logic of debt payments as a whole.

For core countries, eurobonds would certainly be a cheaper option than underwriting loans to struggling member states, which essentially means throwing good money after bad. They will book large losses on EFSF loans, and those losses will be even larger if, as seems possible, some of the borrowers end up leaving the eurozone and defaulting on their debt.

Larger firms even those with large debt problems can refinance their excessive liabilities in court or out of court but an unprecedented number of small businesses are going bankrupt. The same holds for households, with millions of weaker and poorer borrowers defaulting on mortgages, credit cards, auto loans, student loans, and other forms of consumer credit.

The Conference took cognizance of PFC's report on Member States' contributions and arrears, and decided in favour of a progressive implementation of a number of steps towards defaulting Member states.

Options for lower debt burdens on Governments of heavily indebted developing countries include debt cancellation and debt swaps for sustainable development.

Proposals on debt restructuring frameworks

Group of 77 (on debt)

How to Default on Sovereign Debt

Most economists failed to foresee the economic dynamics that actually led to the crisis, because they failed to pay enough attention to the rapid increase in US total debt. Instead, they focused exclusively on US foreign debt, ignoring household debt (mortgage and consumer debt), public debt, business debt, and financial debt.

To address the debt burden problem, many African countries at first resorted to repeated debt rescheduling which focused on debt service flows, resulting in steadily increasing debt stocks and related service payments.

His delegation therefore supported the application of the debt burden adjustment based on the debt stock approach.

Group of 77 (core group on debt)

Group of 77 (core group on debt)

Debt reduction, either through stock of debt reduction or debt service reduction based on a concessional rescheduling, will continue to be considered only in exceptional cases.

Thus, the Paris Club's Evian approach relies on IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis for determining the terms of debt reschedulings.

33 UNCTAD is implementing a project on development strategy and debt sustainability, which also integrates aspects of debt management.

I figured, surely some of the most creative artistic minds in the world, really, aren't all defaulting back to this one easy trope like they invented it, right?

We heard a strong welcome for recent progress on aid and debt, although many members expect further action on debt, more quickly and in more countries.

There have been many proposals on debt restructuring mechanisms.

Oral statements in plenary on CTT and debt sustainability.

Oral statements on global governance and debt and written statement on trade.

Debt sustainability and debt relief

Fourthly, the parties need to comply strictly with their commitments and obligations, and the international community needs to show greater determination to exert the necessary pressure and sanctions against defaulting parties.

In some countries Argentina, Ecuador and the Russian Federation the debt crisis led to a suspension of payments or defaults on debt service.

The Group of Eight initiatives on debt relief and on Africa are important contributions.

In these cases, debt restructurings produced a haircut on exchanged bonds.

In December 2001, the Government declared default on its external debt.

Group of 77 (core groups on debt and international financial systems)

Lower interest rates on loans are available in capital markets to borrowers who have ample debt service coverage , which is defined as total revenues available for debt service as a percentage of the required debt service.

Besides these cost savings, the active use of DMFAS in debt offices ensures that countries have an up to date database on debt, allowing more effective debt management and better preparation for loan and rescheduling negotiations.

We welcome the increase in debt relief, including debt cancellation, for many of the most highly indebted poor countries, as well as the renewed focus on Africa and on HIV AIDS.

We continue our work on settling the debt of African countries on a bilateral basis.

The amount of debt relief would then be determined on the basis of expected development assistance and the need to avoid a new debt overhang.

Even for those benefiting from the HIPC Initiative, the economic conditions on which their debt relief was based have considerably worsened, and several countries, including those few that received debt relief, have backtracked into further unsustainable debt.

If payment has not been forthcoming, the shipper seller as controlling party should be entitled to designate a new consignee and thereby secure its position even if the defaulting party had requested delivery.

Interest payments on the debt eventually become so burdensome that bondholders demand higher interest payments (Greek debt recently yielded over 30 ). Interest rates on US government debt remain low, so this threat is prospective, but future deficits will be far higher than government projections when rates normalize.

Special communiqué on the swapping of foreign debt for investment in education

Special communiqué on the swapping of external debt for investment in education

Africa's heavy debt burden remains a major drain on its development potential.

Spain has also adopted measures on foreign debt that will enable our country to participate actively in multilateral debt cancellation initiatives for highly indebted poor countries.

The longer that European authorities postpone the introduction of Eurobonds, an effective banking and fiscal union, and lender of last resort status for the ECB, the longer the crisis will last. By effectively defaulting on a deposit insurance guarantee through its actions in Cyprus, the eurozone backtracked on the planned banking union.

Debt not only caused an outflow of capital to pay the principal and interest on external debt, but also hindered efforts to attract foreign direct investment and promote economic activity, a fact not reflected in the debt flow approach.

The debt burden adjustment should be retained as an element of the scale methodology because external debt had a substantial impact on Member States' capacity to pay.

Moreover, a debt reduction in the form of further interest rate reductions and maturity extensions on foreign government held debt would not hurt financial markets. But debt held by the European Central Bank and the IMF could pose a problem.