BRUSSELS - Central banks and companies not bracing for a possible Greek euro exit would be making a grave error, Belgium's foreign minister said on Friday, rattling markets already alarmed by Spain's deteriorating finances. Greek elections are due on June 17 and could hasten the country's departure from the currency club should a government intent on ripping up the country's bailout program result. Polls suggest the outcome is too tight to call. Greece accounts for little more than two percent of the euro zone economy but could pose a profound contagion threat if it quit the currency area, throwing the spotlight on Portugal, Spain and even Italy. "There is no organized discussion at the European level along the lines of: what do we do (if Greece leaves)," Belgium's Didier Reynders told the European American Press Club in Paris. "Now, if central banks and companies are not preparing for the scenario, that would be a grave professional error." Spain is in plenty of trouble even disregarding any backwash from Greece. It's important autonomous region, Catalonia, said it needed help from the central government because it was running out of options for refinancing debt this year. "We don't care how they do it, but we need to make payments at the end of (each) month. Your economy can't recover if you can't pay your bills," Catalan President Artur Mas told reporters. Spain's trump card was that it had successfully issued will over than half the sovereign debt it needs to in 2012. But after revealing this week that its highly indebted regions faced 36 billion euros of debt refinancing bills this year, way above the previously stated 8 billion, that advantage may have been wiped out.
