Guardian
June 27, 2011
A silver lining appeared amid the clouds of Europe's worst crisis in decades on Monday as French banks agreed to roll over the country's debt two days before a crucial vote in the Greek parliament on austerity measures – a precondition of further aid from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
As the finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, desperately tried to woo dissident deputies ahead of the vote on the radical €28bn (£25bn) package, the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, said his country's banks had agreed on a plan to reinvest a significant amount of their holdings in Greek debt.
By reinvesting in new securities over 30 years it is hoped the pressure on Greece to repay investors will ease. With €355bn, bondholders in France are more exposed to Greek debt than any other eurozone country. The announcement of the scheme helped dissipate fears that Greece was heading for default. The FTSE 100 rose 24.62 points to close at 5722.34, while the Dow Jones was up 92 points at 12,026 by lunchtime on Wall Street.
More
No comments:
Post a Comment