Second bailout package on Greece agreed

Business

oi-Sunil

By Sunil Fernandes

Published: Tuesday, February 21, 2012, 9:46 [IST]

Eurozone's finance ministers finally agreed on a second bailout for Greece – a package that would help the country honour its debt obligations and would prevent bankruptcy in March, when huge debts become payable.

The deal, which has been on tenterhooks for the last several weeks was approved in the early hours of Tuesday. The bailout package is expected to be worth 130 billion euros.

The agreement on a bailout package should come as a huge relief to stock markets across the globe. In fact, global markets had been expecting an approval which had led to a rally across stock markets in the last few days.

Doubts were raised on Greece's ability to contain deficits and its austerity measures being put in place, which had delayed an agreement on the package.

Greece now has a herculean task ahead to meet norms laid out by the European Union and the IMF, as debts are currently more than 160% of GDP with unemployment mounting.

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