Eurozone finance ministers reached a long-delayed -130bn second bail-out for Greece early on Tuesday after strong-arming private holders of Greek bonds to take even deeper losses than they had accepted last month
Eurozone finance ministers reached a long-delayed €130bn second bail-out for Greece early on Tuesday after strong-arming private holders of Greek bonds to take even deeper losses than they had accepted last month.
Although Greek bondholders agreed in October to accept a 50 per cent cut in the face value of their bonds in face-to-face negotiations with Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, and German chancellor Angela Merkel, they will now be offered a “voluntary” deal with a haircut of 53.5 per cent, eurozone officials said.
“The new programme provides a comprehensive blueprint for putting the public finances and the economy of Greece back on a sustainable footing,” said Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the eurogroup of finance ministers.
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Both Mr Juncker and Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, emphasised at a post-meeting press conference that Greece still had to live up to a series of “prior actions” by the end of the month before eurozone governments or the IMF can sign off on the new programme.
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