March 2, 2012
Euro-zone finance ministers said Thursday they were ready to give Greece money from a new bailout — provided a bond swap that will cut the debt Greece owes its private creditors by more than €100 billion goes according to plan in the coming week.
With the €130 billion ($173 billion) Greek bailout close to being finalized, European Union leaders at a summit Thursday evening said they would focus on policies aimed at battling the headwinds to economic growth created by government austerity programs across the 27-nation bloc.
Meanwhile, signs emerged that Germany was yielding to international pressure to boost the euro zone's bailout funds. Key German politicians, including two important allies of Chancellor Angela Merkel, said they were willing to back at least a temporary increase in the firewall against its debt crisis. Though EU leaders didn't decide on the issue Thursday night, finance ministers can take that step when they meet later in March, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said after the summit.
The finance ministers said Greece had passed most of the legislation sought by the "troika" of the country's official creditors—the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank—as the price for new aid.
More
No comments:
Post a Comment