Cazenove's Harvey: EU bailout fund is only a sticking plaster

Eurozone rescue funds amounting to €500bn will not be enough to meet the financing needs of Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Italy in 2011-2013, Cazenove Capital Management's Peter Harvey says.

€410bn has been made available so far from the IMF, EFSF and EU. The manager of the £630m Cazenove Strategic Bond fund says the rescue funds falls far short of the €1.55trn needed by these four countries. “The EFSF amount is only a sticking plaster; it does not reduce overall debt,” says Harvey. Italy alone needs €819bn, while Spain required €467bn and Belgium €192bn. Portual, which last week saw its deficit spike to 8.6% in 2010, needs €73bn, Harvey says. Conversely, Finland and Germany have been admirably restrained in their borrowing, he adds. In terms of attractive debt i...