| EU to agree on second Greek bailout by February 6 |
| Friday, 03 February 2012 | |
|
Euro zone finance ministers aim to agree a second financing package for
Greece on Monday, a decision they hope will boost market confidence in
euro zone public finances and help contain the two-year-old sovereign
debt crisis. Senior euro zone
officials are expected to meet on Monday between 0800 and 1400 GMT (3
a.m. and 9 a.m. EST) in Brussels to prepare the package, which would
then likely be submitted for approval by euro zone finance ministers at
an extraordinary meeting at 1600 GMT. EU leaders
agreed in October they would lend Greece another 130 billion euros,
assuming investors would forego half of what Greece owes them in nominal
terms. But talks on the terms of those losses - called private sector
involvement or PSI - have moved on since then and the chief executive of
Deutsche Bank said bondholders were now ready to lose 70 percent of the
net present value of their investment. Juncker also said the outcome of the leaders'
summit on January 30 was "largely insufficient" when it came to tackling
the sovereign debt crisis and that further steps would be needed to
tighten fiscal rules for the 17 euro zone countries. |