China may offer way out of debt stranglehold

THE downgrade by Fitch of Irish debt is a further reminder that the EU/IMF bailout has not ended the speculation about the ability of the economy to cope.

Given our access to €67.5bn of IMF and European funding one might have expected the rating agencies to have a bit of heart and allow us to get on with restoring the banking sector to normal trading.

Writing yesterday Dermot O’Leary of Goodbody Stockbrokers pulled no punches about the seriousness of the situation: “With the large contingent liability remaining and further debt simply made available to further recapitalise the system, the underlying issue of the sovereign’s ability to cope with this contingent liability has not been resolved. These downgrades back up this assertion.”