Europe must find solution to its sovereign solvency problem: Pranab Mukherjee

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said European nations will have to find their own solution to the problem of sovereign solvency and make a credible assessment of liquidity needs.

"The convergence of views from the deliberations of finance ministers in the G-20 is that so far as sovereign debt is concerned, the issue of sovereign solvency ought to be resolved by the Europeans themselves," Mukherjee said at an Asian Development Bank (ADB) seminar here.

Mukherjee returned yesterday after attending the two-day meeting of G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors.

European leaders are meeting on October 23 to work out a solution to their sovereign debt problems.

"We ought to wait for the outcome of October 23 summit of the European Union... It is for them to make a credible assessment and, therefore, to make their recommendations how they are going to address their issue (and) what expectations they have from the international community to supplement their efforts," he added.

The outcome of the summit of European leaders will be taken into consideration by the G-20 leaders, who are scheduled to meet at Cannes in France on November 3 and 4.

Several European nations, including Greece, Portugal and Spain, are facing financial problems and a sovereign default is expected to have a severe impact on the whole region.

In view of the pending European summit, Mukherjee said the G-20 ministerial meet refrained from making any specific recommendation for the leaders' meet at Cannes.