Tuesday, November 5, 2013

IMF idea: German Savers to Forfeit a Tenth of Their Assets

So far, German savers mentioned are still safe in the euro debt crisis. But a mind game of the IMF can set off alarm bells . The currency experts pontificate about a unique, ten percent special levy .
Yet it is only a mind game that reveals the ideas of the International Monetary Fund ( IMF) in its current state debt report - and what it has in mind for savers in Germany itself. The idea of ​​the IMF: In addition to the countries whose citizens themselves could also make a direct contribution to reduce the national debt in the euro area to a manageable level, all who are capable to contribute will.

A corresponding passage discovered the editorial staff of the "Welt am Sonntag " on page 49 of the current IMF report . There, the IMF experts describe in a thought experiment that the part of private assets in excess of its own debt, could be loaded once at a rate of ten percent. This could bring the debt within the monetary union of the state to 2007 levels. In relation to gross domestic product (GDP) at the time it was a healthy 66 percent - in 2012 the debt-to-GDP ratio was almost 91 percent.

Total asset growth would be destroyed
For Germany, this would mean that the national debt would be reduced by about 576 billion euros, if the debt ratio expected to be reached are 2007 levels. Between 2007 and 2012, the private fortunes of the Germans grew by 551 billion euros over five trillion euros, as figures show for the Bundesbank. Were the IMF idea to become reality, this would mean that savers would forfeit a large part of this increase again.

The IMF said on Tuesday that it was a purely theoretical thought experiment : "There is no such requirement from the IMF ," said a spokeswoman .

Thorsten Polleit, chief economist at Degussa's gold trade, expected financial assets would be destroyed by such a huge step in the euro zone. "To the sovereign debt in the euro area to 60 percent of GDP (one of the stability criteria, note) to reduce the debt by more than 3,000 billion euros, or about 30 percent of national income would be reduced - not even counting bank debt. "

"Nothing is impossible "
Since it is only an idea at the IMF model, it is unclear whether and in what amount the savers in the euro area should actually be faced with a capital levy. However polleit holds nothing is impossible. " If a tax, these could also be imposed retroactively ," the chief economist warns in an interview with FOCUS Online
Assets would then escape not help since the release anfiele on the amount of assets as they existed at a particular date in the past . The policy would not hesitate with such a long step , says Polleit . Once they have saved the credit system from collapse, they 'll be in a second step to try to reduce the excessive debt burden. " These are probably many paths trodden simultaneously or in succession."

Sourced from:
http://www.focus.de/finanzen/news/staatsverschuldung/tid-34471/sparer-sollen-bluten-irre-iwf-idee-zehn-prozent-sonderabgabe-auf-deutsche-sparguthaben_aid_1147912.html

Translated by: Gabriel Abram