However, the concern about the creditworthiness of government bonds issued by countries including Greece and Portugal – the so-called sovereign debt problem – is likely to be a destabilizing factor for some time not only within Europe but also in the global economy.
The total economic scale of Greece and Portugal I have just referred to is less than 1 percent of the global economy. However, European financial institutions have a substantial amount of exposure to those countries. If the government bonds of those countries face default, anxiety about the soundness of European financial institutions might rise.