Text size:
  • Increase
  • Decrease
  • Normal

Current Size: 100%

Sunday, May. 20, 2012 |  Syndicate content

Eurozone seals second Greek bailout

Page last updated at 19:09 GMT, Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 00:09 EST

Share |

Reuters:

Greece's Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, Greece's Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Germany's Finance Minister...
All photographs come from the aforementioned news sources, and full copyright ownership is maintained by those sources. This site uses the images purely for reference to the original source and educational purposes, and does not profit in any way from their use.
Euro zone finance ministers sealed on Tuesday a second bailout for debt-laden Greece that will resolve its immediate financing needs but seems unlikely to revive the nation's shattered economy.

After a marathon 13 hours of talks, euro zone officials said ministers had nailed measures to cut Greece's debt to around 121 percent of gross domestic product by 2020, close to their original target of 120, after negotiators for private bondholders offered to accept a bigger loss to help plug the funding gap.

Agreement on a 130-billion-euro rescue package with strict conditions attached will help draw a line under months of uncertainty that has shaken the currency bloc, and avert an imminent Greek bankruptcy.

"The financial volume (of the Greek package) is 130 billion euros and debt-to-GDP (will be) 121 percent. Now it's down to work on the statement," one official involved in the negotiations told Reuters. Another confirmed the two figures.

The euro jumped almost half a cent, reversing earlier losses, after Reuters reported a deal had been struck.

A report prepared for ministers by EU, European Central Bank and IMF experts, obtained exclusively by Reuters, said Greece would need extra relief to cut its debts near to the official debt target 2020 given the ever-worsening state of its economy.

Read the whole story: Reuters

Watch from Reuters:

 

Comments

Why the smile, Evangele?

February 21, 2012 by John Gurlides (United Kingdom ), 12 weeks 5 days ago

The deal basically pays back the fat-cat European bankers, giving them priority over poor Greeks, whilst those Greeks fortunate enough to still have jobs will be pressed to pay back an ever-increasing debt by a corrupt, unelected government that has bought time and has thrown away the country's future and independence.
Our finance minister may be laughing - after all, he obviously has plenty to eat - but what about the rest of us?
Has anyone given us a thought?

Let's see

February 21, 2012 by Jim Adams (United States ), 12 weeks 5 days ago

Well, let's see how this plays out. It feels like kicking the can down the road. Is buying time simply going to trap Greeks in a never ending recession or will this be the first pave stone layed down heading towards a new path. Only time will tell.

Greece-World News