Bloomberg
July 2, 2011
European finance chiefs may approve their portion of a 12 billion-euro ($17.4 billion) aid payment for Greece as they work to cobble together a second rescue for the cash-strapped country.
Ministers from the 17 euro nations hold a conference call at 6 p.m. Brussels time today to approve distributing the fifth installment of last year’s 110 billion-euro bailout. The meeting will last around an hour and a statement will likely be released afterward. The ministers will also discuss progress in convincing private banks to participate in a new aid package that may include as much as 85 billion euros in new funds.
“The fifth tranche from EU countries will most likely go through,” said Vincent Chaigneau, head of interest-rate strategy at Societe Generale SA. “They’ll need more time to agree on a second bailout, but as long as they can agree on the principles, that should hopefully be good enough.”
The yield on Greece’s two-year bond fell more than 150 basis points this week after Prime Minister George Papandreou secured passage of a 78 billion-euro austerity package and French and German banks showed willingness to take part in the new bailout. Finance chiefs are trying to wrap up the new rescue plan, which aims to shield Greece from financial markets for three years and may be worth 85 billion euros, at a meeting on July 11.
A year after the bailout that was supposed to stop the spread of the debt crisis, Greece’s debt is set to top 150 percent of gross domestic product, the country is mired in recession and needs more aid to avoid default.
More
No comments:
Post a Comment